Southland accommodation providers gear up for busy summer

Southland accommodation providers are preparing for a busy summer, with some saying they are almost fully booked until the end of April.

Bluff is expected to enjoy a bumper tourism season, with 19 cruise ship stops scheduled.

In other parts of the south, accommodation providers including motels and luxury-stay properties are readying for an influx of mostly international visitors.

Pip Blair owns Waikawa House, an accomodation property in the southern Catlins area. She said it was busy from mid-November through to Easter.

Most of those bookings were for international tourists who would be staying one night.

This was a stark contrast from winter bookings, when Waikawa House would be lucky to be half full, Blair said.

The local demand was only for family functions from around the region, she said.

Great South tourism and events general manager Mark Frood said demand from domestic tourists was “probably going to be softer than previous years”.

“We’re getting some domestic forward bookings coming in, but additionally down on last year,” he said.

This decline was a result of the increased cost of living, Frood said.

PurePods marketing manager Holly Regnault said the luxury eco-cabin business still had some spots left at its Tokoeka​ and Hananui​ accommodation units on Stewart Island/Rakiura.

This was despite bookings being between 75% and 80% for the next two months. Most of the bookings were for two to three days, with some extending to four.

“We’re excited about summer,” she said.

About 60% of its bookings for summer were from international visitors, Regnault said.

Illeana Taylor, an owner-operator of Fiordland Lakeview Motel and Apartments in Te Anau, said the business had some spots available but was mostly booked out through to the end of April next year.

More than 85% of the bookings were from international visitors choosing to spend more time in Te Anau, with stays of three to four nights.

“People are enjoying Te Anau more,” she said.

Chris Ramsay is the chief executive of the Invercargill Licensing Trust, which operates hotel and motel properties in Invercargill as part of its South Island accommodation portfolio. He said the group’s customer mix would move “away from corporate and more into group tours, which are starting to come back, and a wee bit of domestic tourism”.

However, what the trust got in domestic tourism did not offset the loss in corporate travel, he said.

“Our accommodation properties go quiet from the next couple of weeks onwards until about mid-January. Our occupancies drop back.

“There’s definitely a slight increase in domestic tourism. We had a slight lift from the tail end of December coming into the new year, [with] a couple of family groups coming into town.

“But definitely from the first week of January through until late January, it dries up.”

Frood said international air services were back to 92% of pre-pandemic levels across New Zealand’s international airports.

“What we’re seeing is where domestic [numbers are] down, internationals are starting to take up a bit of that slack,” he said.

“We’re very strong with the North American market here, with 30% up, compared to the pre-Covid time. We’re already starting to see a lot of North Americans flowing through,” he said.