Improved flight schedules and gradually rebounding international visitor numbers should bolster the tourism sector, and it’s encouraging to see accommodation assets attracting investor attention.

Although inbound visitor numbers to New Zealand are hovering around 80 percent of pre-pandemic figures, the Australian and US markets remain strong and the Asian market is returning incrementally.

Tourism New Zealand wants to grow tourism by $5 billion over the next four years by attracting more visitors in the off-season and is planning a marketing strategy to promote our dark sky credentials and eclectic dining and hospitality scene to help build a resilient year-round tourism sector.

Smoothing out seasonal bumps is one part of the equation, but connectivity plays a huge role in getting people to our shores. Jetstar is significantly expanding its Gold Coast network, offering new direct flights to Hamilton and Dunedin from June next year, along with flights from Sydney to Hamilton. This opens up destinations like Rotorua, the Bay of Plenty and Hobbiton, and when Dunedin is added to the mix, will give the Australian market another South Island gateway.

Latest RevPar and ADR figures confirm that the market is somewhat muted, with Auckland showing signs of an oversupply of rooms, Queenstown tracking pretty well, and Christchurch outperforming other main centres with arguably an undersupply of rooms.

With several new Auckland hotels opening in recent months, and more rooms coming, operators will want to leverage the SailGP regatta’s Auckland debut in January – one of only a few big events on the horizon. Large-scale sporting, cultural and music events are essential to the wider HTL sector, with the success of last year’s FIFA Women's World Cup a good example.

On the transaction side, Bayleys’ HTL team is noting an uplift in buyer enquiry for tourism-related property assets, particularly from offshore, and we have a number of deals in progress.

Getting these bigger deals across the line is taking longer than usual, but good things take time. Despite a weaker NZD against many currencies, some funding challenges remain, although buyer interest in the $10-million-plus market shows that private wealth is circulating.

There are signs that the domestic market is starting to turn, and further cuts to the OCR and lending rates will be welcomed by buyers and sellers alike.

Our HTL team is proactively working around New Zealand and the Pacific. Our experienced brokers are well-connected to key industry professionals and operators and dialled into a raft of opportunities – both on and off-market.

We’d love to chat – so get in touch to see what doors we can open for you.

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