Fuelled by the three Ed Sheeran concerts in Dunedin and the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow, card payment transactions were up 10% compared with March last year.
The 6.73 million transactions amounted to a $320 million spend, statistics released by Paymark show.
However, the true economic impact of the two events will be larger - Paymark records about 75% of card transactions and does not record cash purchases.
Citing commercial sensitivity, Paymark was unable to provide details on what was spent in Otago on what days, but in general terms the rise in spending was likely because of the two big events in the region, a spokesman said.
Sales were strongest in hardware and appliance stores, but close behind were accommodation, food and liquor suppliers, and cars and cafes.
Numbers at Wanaka's Warbirds show fuelled a fast and furious weekend for retailers, Wanaka Chamber of Commerce executive officer Naomi Lindsay said.
''Anecdotally, we know a lot of Wanakians were in Dunedin [for Sheeran], so the mix of domestic and international tourism may be different from previous years,'' she said.
''We don't have figures ... but we hear business was great over Easter and that restaurants were selling out of food by 8.30pm.''
Accommodation was fully booked throughout the town and in Queenstown over Easter, and there had also been plenty of camper vans in town.
Southland businesses also experienced a boomer of a March. Paymark figures showed a 10.67% increase in transactions for a $5.2 million spend.
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So let's get this straight, spending for March, in Otago was up 10% over last year, but Easter was in April last year, and there was no Warbirds over Wanaka. Spending in Southland, where there was no Sheeran concert, was up more, 10.67 percent.
Tell me again all about the $34M that Sheeran brought to Dunedin....
basic maths Richard... 320 mil in paymark payments 10% increase so approx 30 mil, what about all the prebookings from hotels and motels before March I’m guess maybe 10,000 beds available just a rough guess considering it has been reported 70k+ from out of town they got to sleep some where avg $200 per bed per night for 3 nights. 10000x200x3= 6mil, paymark is only 75% of transactions so another 25% from another company so another 10 mil. Total roughly 40mil in card transactions over otago let’s say half was in Dunedin 20mil + 6mil + cash transactions and this a low estimate then 34mil isn’t so farfetched is it? Considering people probably decided to come to Dunedin rather than other South Island destinations comparing March to March last year.
Comon Richard, don't spoil Culls and the Greens fairy tale of skewing the figures. I'm interested what the the DCC got from gate takings and where has or where is that coin going. What was the stadiums Debt prior to the CullEd show and What is the Debt after the CullEd show