The Quarterly Data Snapshot is available at the end of each quarter, to provide our members with access to topline information about the prior quarter's performance from the datasets available. These insights have been gathered from the Visitor Insights dashboard. The dashboard provides members with one convenient location for publicly available tourism data, purchased data and RTO-led or commissioned research.

This resource provides a summary of key visitor economy statistics, data and insights as at year ending June 2025. The data and statistics used in this resource are gathered from a range of locations and data sources. This resource can be found on the Insights & Research page of LWT B2B website the or in the link below.

Access the latest Visitor Economy Insights Resource for year ending June 2025.

In the April to June 2025 period, Wānaka recorded over 752,200 visitor days, a 26% increase on the same period in 2024. This growth was largely driven by a strong April, with the alignment of Easter and Anzac Day creating an extended holiday period that boosted both domestic and international visitation. Commercial accommodation guest nights in the April to June period rose 15%, compared to same period 2024 to 159,300, while non-commercial property nights increased 22% to 42,130.

Visitor credit card spending for the quarter reached almost $50 million, up 3% year-on-year, with international expenditure increasing 11%. This figure is based on credit card transactions at fixed EFTPOS locations and excludes cash, online. This source also understates expenditure at event-based EFTPOS (such as Wheels at Wānaka), and app-based payments. This dataset is estimated to capture approximately 30% of total visitor expenditure, total spending is likely to be higher.

Visitor experience scores remained strong, with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 72 over the past 12 months, well above the New Zealand average.

The Visitor Experience Survey is a survey of visitors to the Queenstown Lakes region. The results are shared quarterly and outline a variety of experience aspects including; visitor motivations, connection with people and place, activities/attractions, net promoter score and overall visitor experience satisfaction. The Visitor Experience Survey is Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism's collaborative research initiative facilitated by tourism research experts Angus & Associates.

Source: Queenstown Visitor Experience Survey, Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism facilitated by Angus & Associates.
Sample size = 357. Last 12 months refers to 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025, last 3 months refers to 1 April - 30 June 2025.

Visitor expenditure refers to money spent on tourism-related activities while in Wānaka. LWT and DQ uses Marketview visitor spend figures as our expenditure measure. Marketview visitor expenditure is based on visitor in-person card transactions and does not include estimates for cash, online transactions and app based payments, therefore is not fully representitive of total visitor expenditure. Note: this source is not adjusted to account for inflation.

Source: Worldline/Marketview Tourism Data. 1 - 30 June 2025. vs prior year - percentage change vs same month 2024.

Source: Worldline/Marketview Tourism Data. 1 January 2019 - 1 - 30 June 2025. 

Source: Worldline/Marketview Tourism Data. 1 - 30 June 2025. 

The monthly cumulative visitor estimates represent the total number of daily visitors counted over a month, regardless of whether visitors stay for multiple days. For example, if someone visits for three days, they are counted three times in the cumulative estimate. Note: Vistr are currently investigating issues that may be leading to an overstatement of international visitor counts in recent data (October 2024 onwards) which could be leading to an exaggerated vs prior year increase. The absolute international visitor counts and vs prior year metrics should be interpreted with caution. 

Source: Vistr Visitor Volume Estimates. 1- 30 June 2025. vs prior year - percentage change vs same month 2024.

Source: Vistr Visitor Volume Estimates. 1 January 2022 -  30 June 2025.

The total guest nights and occupancy rates for commercial accommodation in the Wānaka region gathered from properties participating in the Accommodation Data Programme.

Source: Accommodation Data Programme. 1 - 30 June 2025. vs prior year: percentage change vs same month 2024.

Source: CAM (Jan - Sept 2019), Accommodation Data Programme (June 2020 onwards). 1 January 2019 - 30 June 2025

JULY 2023 - JUNE 2025 (LAST 24 MONTHS)

Source: Accommodation Data Programme. 1 July 2023 - 30 June 2025.

Non commercial accommodation data is drawn from AirDNA. It provides insights into the total number of property nights in non-commercial/ short term rental accommodation providers. Note: property listing nights represent the number of properties/ listings booked, not the number of beds or guest nights.

Source: AirDNA. 1 - 30 June 2025. vs prior year: percentage change vs same month 2024.

Source: AirDNA. 1 May 2022 - 30 June 2025.