Close to 40 million nights were spent in short-term accommodation throughout the country in the year to August.
Rotorua was one of the centres with the strongest growth in guest nights spent in holiday accommodation Photo: 123rf
The latest figures from Stats NZ show people spent a record number of nights at hotels, motels and holiday parks.
Spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said backpacker accommodation was the only short-term commercial accommodation to experience a drop in bed nights, falling by 1.6 percent.
Guest nights spent at hotels have more than doubled in the past 20 years, she said.
Christchurch, Queenstown Lakes and Rotorua had the strongest growth in bed nights in the year to August. The Auckland region's guest nights fell 1.4 percent following a record August 2017 year.
Hosted and private accommodation, including Airbnb, are not included in the figures.
In the 12 months ended August 2018 compared with the August 2017 year, the number of guest nights were:
- 14 million at hotels, up 3.6 percent
- 12 million at motels, up 0.9 percent
- 8 million at holiday parks, up 6.2 percent
- 5 million at backpackers, down 1.6 percent.