of national retail spending occurs in Auckland. Non-residential building consents The 12 cities account for nearly 60.0% of the value of all non-residential consents. Tourism The 12 cities account for almost two fifths of total guest nights purchased at commercial accommodation in New Zealand. The number of guest nights purchased grew in the 12 cities in the period 2004 to 2007 and at a similar rate of growth for New Zealand as a whole. Skilled Migrants A quarter of the skilled migrants to New Zealand elect to settle in the Auckland region. A further quarter settled in the other regions where the 12 cities are situated. Site by To view and print pdf files on this site, you will need Acrobat Reader. This is free for download from the Adobe website.