Queenstown is proving a popular destination for Kiwi holidaymakers. Photo credit: Bernard Spragg via Wikipedia
With tough border restrictions meaning a great many Kiwis have less places to travel to than in pre-Covid times, air travel seems to be one of the beneficiaries of a local travel boom.
Air New Zealand, for example, has announced that well over half-a-million Kiwis are preparing to take to the skies this school holiday in what the carrier says is its busiest winter July holiday period ever.
The bumper demand means Air New Zealand is operating 670,000 seats and 7,500 flights across its domestic network, as a record number of Kiwis spend their time around Aotearoa.
Queenstown is the number one destination, with 100,000 seats in and out of the picturesque destination. Regional hubs are booming, with Nelson seeing 870 flights over the break, Napier (568 flights) and Tauranga (554 flights) also proving popular for adventure-hungry Kiwis.
The airline’s Chief Customer and Sales, Officer Leanne Geraghty, says its crews are excited to roll out the welcome mat for thousands of families looking for a break.
“We’ve seen a 52% increase in seats for this year’s school holidays versus last year, when the July school holidays saw the release of pent-up demand for air travel following national lockdowns.
“We continue to see exceptional demand. Domestic sales are so strong for July school holidays that we are intending to operate 56% more domestic flights than the July 2020 school holidays.
“These numbers underscore the strength of [our] domestic network, which is one of the best in the world, and the confidence Kiwi families have in getting out to explore this [country].”
In March, ASB Bank economist Mark Smith said that while the Covid-19 pandemic had prompted many Kiwis to travel more domestically, this hadn’t up for the lack of international tourists in most regions.
“New Zealanders are going out and supporting local, but there’s a huge void from the four million overseas visitors a year we used to see… Things like school holidays and Christmas and New Year have been good for some operators, but during other periods they suffer,” he told the publication Stuff.
According to Chris Roberts, the Chief Executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, cities have fared particularly badly during the pandemic, along with regions further away from the main centres, as Kiwis have tended to holiday relatively close to home.