Destination Insights Dashboard

MARCH 2024 COMMENTARY

• Data for March ‘24 portrays a positive picture for tourism in the Coastal Bay of Plenty. Significant growth in visitor card spend (+11% vs. March ‘23) and moderate growth in commercial accommodation usage (guest nights: +5%) supported the strongest growth in tourism-related employment among all Central North Island RTO (filled jobs: +5%, employment earnings: +8%). Overall employment earnings grew stronger than the number of filled jobs, a pattern not observed at national scale.
  
  
• Interestingly, while the moderate increase in accommodation usage was mainly driven by the domestic market (+8% vs. March ‘23) [international: -4%], the significant increase in visitor card spend was predominantly driven by international visitors (+81%) [domestic: -1%].
  
  
• The discrepancy in growth in spend and overnight stays by international visitors might be in part explained by a strong recovery of the cruise industry. Further, the ‘Transport Services’ sector, including coaches and cruises, experienced significant growth (filled jobs: +51%) further pointing to a strong cruise season.
  
  
• The strongest growth in visitor card spend by product category was observed for ‘Arts & Recreation Services’ (+29%), followed by ‘Retail Trade’ (+13%), the latter making up more than 70% of overall visitor card spend.
  
  
• Occupancy in commercial accommodation dropped slightly (-2%pt. vs March ‘23), as the number of active establishments increased (+3%), along with the demand for commercial accommodation. Occupancy in short-term rentals dropped significantly (-8%pt.), but remained above the occupancy rate in commercial accommodation (59% vs 53%).
  
  
• At the sub-regional level the strongest growth in visitor spend was observed in the Western Bay of Plenty district (+25% vs March ‘23), whereas the strongest growth in accommodation usage was observed in the Whakatane district (guest nights: +23% vs. March ‘23).
  
  
• Occupancy in short-term rentals provides insights into daily activity within the region. Peak occupancy occurred around the Easter weekend with 88% occupancy in short-term rentals on the 30th of March.
  
  
• Tourism-related employment data suggest a stronger focus on ‘core’ tourism products with significant growth in the ‘Activity, Travel, and Tour Services’ (filled jobs: +13% vs. March ‘23) and ‘Transport Services’ (filled jobs: +51%) sectors, including coaches and cruises. Meanwhile the ‘Accommodation and Food and Beverage Services’ sector, which is more impacted by discretionary spend from locals, decreased slightly (filled jobs: -3%, employment earnings: -9%).
  
  
• This month also saw the release of Q1 ‘24 business events data, which demonstrated significant growth in the Coastal Bay of Plenty business events sector with significant increases in the number of events and delegates (events: +73%, unique delegates: +98%, delegate days: +135% vs. Q1 ‘23). The data suggest that the size of events increased as the number of delegates grew stronger than the number of events. Further, events were longer on average as the number of delegate days grew stronger than the number of unique delegates.