High-value visitors from the US fuelled a hot summer for Auckland’s tourism industry, with a record 1.15 million arrivals during the year’s peak season (December-March), and a record spend of $3.13 billion.
Visitation from the US was up 28 per cent – a key contributor to the 7.1 per cent overall growth compared to the previous summer, which itself had grown 12.4 per cent from the summer of 2014/15.
The US growth – to 11 per cent of total visitors – appears to show the value of our medium to long-term strategy to raise Auckland’s profile there through partnerships with high-end operators such as Virtuoso and American Express.
Last month, our Tourism Trade team partnered CSQ.com to host key US-based journalists in Auckland for a week, with Auckland’s golfing assets a key focus.
CSQ.com's integrated media membership base is made up of Los Angeles most influential and affluent change makers. The controlled circulation is 25,000 subscribers, with a readership of 150,000.
This month, we hosted American Express platinum and centurion senior agents and partnership managers, and the Virtuoso Study Tour. We also sponsored the Down Under Answers Tourism Exchange in Auckland, which connected the region’s foremost travel suppliers with 60 of North America's best destination specialist travel agents who collectively produce more than US$10m in combined annual revenue.
Exchanges provide an excellent platform for ATEED to directly engage with valuable partners.
In Auckland’s other two key inbound markets, visitors from Australia were up 2.1 per cent compared to last summer; however, like other parts of the country, Auckland experienced a slight drop (3.5 per cent) in Chinese visitation – due in part to hotels being near capacity, meaning they could not accommodate some of the larger Chinese tour groups that frequent Auckland.
Tourists to Auckland spent 5 per cent more this summer than the previous one, with international visitors accounting for 59 per cent of the total $3.13 billion spend.
The Qrious Voyager data showed 10 million visitor nights in Auckland over summer; Statistics NZ’s Accommodation Monitor, which only includes commercial accommodation, showed a 0.7 per cent decrease to 2.71 million, despite international visitor guest nights being up 3.9 per cent to 1.32 million.
With Auckland’s commercial accommodation sector at near capacity over summer, it’s not surprising to see that segment’s growth stagnating. But Qrious Voyager’s data indicates visitors are making the most of the ongoing emergence of alternatives such as AirBnB.