Data from commercial accommodation providers is looking brighter, as global flight schedules rebound and northern hemisphere visitors join our Australian mates to boost New Zealand’s tourism sector.

As expected, Queenstown, Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch have benefitted first with big jumps in leisure occupancy and average daily room rates compared to this time last year.

Industry insiders estimate that the number of room nights sold in August across New Zealand hotels was approximately 90 percent of pre-pandemic August 2019 levels which is heartening.

The tourism story can only get better from here on in – but in reality, how fast and how strong the recovery will be is still unknown.

Flight schedules are inching back on track, there are some exciting new accommodation projects in the works, and New Zealand’s natural beauty and tourist pull are still intact, however, there are some handbrakes.

Staff shortages are proving challenging in the accommodation and hospitality sectors, with service delivery sometimes being compromised – particularly at crunch times like school holidays, major events and long weekends.

With changes to New Zealand’s working visa processing and stay timeframes expected to ease, some of the staffing pressures being seen around the country and workforce challenges are expected to remain a pinch point going forward, especially as wages are rising on top of other inflationary headwinds.

Let’s hope that by summer, staffing is back on track and operator efficiencies and bottom lines can keep edging upwards.

On the transactional side of the equation, Bayleys’ hotels, tourism and leisure team (HTL) has remained consistently busy with strong levels of enquiry and some significant deals being inked.

There are owners and operators wanting to sell, and proactive buyers out there for businesses and HTL real estate with an encouraging level of confidence evident in the marketplace.

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