New accommodation demand insight

Soaring international visitor arrival numbers have thrown the spotlight on New Zealand’s tourism sector, with concerns expressed about whether we have the infrastructure to cope with the massive lift in arrivals that has occurred over the last three years.

John Key has pledged $12m to provide better facilities, such as public toilets, to areas with small populations but a big tourism presence. The government has also established “Project Palace” to try and attract investment for the construction of new hotels, with the availability of accommodation becoming a significant constraint in many parts of the country.

Infometrics has constructed estimates of demand for commercial accommodation units and compare them with the supply of units in These estimates of demand do not make any adjustments for increases in the use of peer-to-peer accommodation. Infometrics says although there has been significant growth in Airbnb, in particular, that growth has been nowhere near enough to make up for all of the increased demand for accommodation by visitors to New Zealand over the last couple of summers.

Infometrics says its estimates confirm that, at peak times, the commercial accommodation sector is under the most capacity pressure in the last 20 years. For 2015 and 2016, all three months at the start of the year had demand estimates above supply.

The seasonal swings in domestic demand for accommodation are relatively minor compared with the international movements. The big seasonal component in domestic holidaymaking is taken up by holiday parks, rather than other commercial accommodation types.

and see the graphs.