Total guest nights across New Zealand have fallen one percent for May, due to a 14% fall in international visitors staying in Auckland.

The limit was somewhat controlled by a rise in overseas visitors staying in Canterbury and Otago in nationwide guests' nights in May to 1 per cent, compared to a year earlier.

It was revealed by the figures released by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) today that there has been a drop in domestic visitors staying in Auckland accommodation, but by a lesser 3 percent.

SNZ said: "The 2 million guest nights in short-term commercial accommodation in May, while down on a year earlier, were up 4 per cent from May 2007."

It should be mentioned here that the 800,000 guest nights in the South Island in May were 2 per cent higher than a year earlier, in spite of the overall fall.

While an increase was seen in Canterbury international guest nights by 8000 or 6 per cent, in Otago they were up by 7%.

The overall results were skewed by a fall of 34,000 guest nights in Auckland, a change of 8 per cent; with the nationwide fall in May being just 13,000 from a year earlier.