Spending figures and flight passengers at an all-time high
It’s been a golden summer already for Nelson with retail, hospitality and tourism figures pointing to the region’s busiest summer for years.
Last week Paymark, the country’s largest eftpos provider, released stats that showed Nelson was second in the country for spending growth in the month of December. An extra $9 million was spent in Nelson during the month, compared to last year.
Much of that increase has been put down to spending in the hospitality and tourism industries and president of the Nelson branch of Hospitality New Zealand, Ron Taylor, says that is showing at the tills of local restaurants, cafes and bars.
“It has been a good summer and so far everyone is saying they’ve been pretty busy. All of the holiday makers coming into town have been in a joyous mood as well, so it been a really good atmosphere so far.”
The number of tourists in the region is also higher than normal. Information released by Nelson Airport shows 44,010 people flew into the airport in December, up from 42,833 last year and the highest on record.
Nelson Tasman Tourism CEO, Lynda Keene, says an improved economy in New Zealand and globally means tourism figures are getting back to what they were before the global financial crisis in 2008.
She says the return of traditional tourists from Britain, the United States, Europe, Australia and Germany is mixing with new tourists from India and China, and – of course, Christchurch – to give the region a “very vibrant tourism market”.
“Cantabrians are our major domestic market and they traditionally stay at Tahunanui, Kaiteriteri and Golden Bay. This year we have seen an increase in numbers in comparison to the last couple of years because of the stability of the economy, plus things settling down a little more in Christchurch. Cantabrians are holidaying like they used to”, says Lynda.
