Destination Queenstown’s winter findings shows total visitor expenditure between June and August in the resort was up 20% on 2019 - despite visitor numbers still being behind pre-Covid levels - and the average length of stay has increased by 15%.
The total winter expenditure was $252 million, which reflected the arrival of international visitors as borders reopened, with Australians contributing almost $60 million of that.
Almost $150 million came from New Zealanders, with the domestic market accounting for 70% of the Wakatipu’s visitors.
DQ chief executive Mat Woods said survey data indicated domestic visitors had a strong desire to return, with more than half planning another visit in the next 12 months.
The latest figures reflected high-value and steady volume, and while international visitors were coming back strongly, New Zealanders continued to be the ‘‘backbone’’ of the economy.
Queenstown Airport passenger statistics showed there were 383,108 domestic passenger movements between June and August 2019 - over the same period this year numbers were only slightly down, at 313,197.
‘‘I do think we’ve probably benefitted from having exceptional snow and, unfortunately, our friends in the North Island have had terrible snow.
‘‘We want them to be successful up there because it’s such a big feeder - if you live in Auckland, to commit to a ski holiday in the South Island and you’ve never skied before, that’s a really big commitment - but if you’re able to drive to Mt Ruapehu, that’s not [as expensive].’’
International visitors are about 50% down - during the 2019 winter, 215,256 international passengers moved through the airport, while this year that was 109,546.
Mr Woods expected the September figures to continue to be strong, given Winter Games NZ, Winter Pride and Snow Machine had not been fully captured in the most recent report.
Demand for summer was also ‘‘really strong’’, particularly out of the United States and Australia.
‘‘This week was the first of the direct New York flights - we’re hearing that from the US, they’re looking forward to coming here and they just want to escape their winter, don’t they?’’
However, on the eve of the spring school holidays Mr Woods said feedback from DQ’s members was they were ‘‘absolutely struggling’’ with staffing issues.
