Flush Kiwis rush to get away from winter woes

A report in NZ’s The Dominion Post yesterday says that New Zealanders are shaking off their winter woes with trips overseas, with a record number of short trips for May.

There were 171,300 short-term departures in May, a jump of 23,000, or 16%, on May 2006, with trips to Australia making up nearly half the number at 83,500, up from 71,200 in May 2006 and the warm climes of the Pacific Islands proving popular, with increases of 34% to 35% going to the Cook Islands and Samoa.

House of Travel Retail Director Brent Thomas said the high departures were a reflection of New Zealanders feeling flush and with high house prices, strong employment figures, and a very competitive exchange rate, most Kiwis would be feeling they could take a trip, adding, “Generally, people are doing well across the board.”  “You’d have to say the stars are pretty aligned at the moment.”

Departures for Fiji had apparently dropped by 9%, but travel agents were still reporting growth in Fiji bookings, despite the numbers.

The decline was a mystery, with House of Travel seeing a significant increase in bookings to Fiji, Mr Thomas said.  “We have had a real positive impact from that.”

With school holidays looming, bookings were booming and there had only been three cancellations, Mr Thomas said.

Linda Cairns, Destination Manager South Pacific for House of Travel, who has responsibility for all Fiji product, told The Mole yesterday that while Fiji is definitely busy during the school holidays, there is still availability across the holiday period and people wanting to travel to Fiji in that period can do so. 

She also said, added, “We are not experiencing New Zealanders cancelling because of the current situation between New Zealand and Fiji and we are only marginally behind last year for Fiji, having picked up good business to Fiji as result of our camapigns over the last month or so.” 

The political situation in Fiji had encouraged a flurry of cheap holiday deals, which had forced other Pacific destinations to drop prices to match.

Flight Centre spokeswoman Melanie Pohl said the statistics showed a drop of only 800, which was insignificant, and there had been little tangible dampening effect from Fijian events.

“New Zealand travellers have been quick to return to Fiji and we expect that, unless the situation deteriorates, travellers will quickly return in their normal numbers,” she said.

“New Zealanders had proven themselves to be hardy travellers since the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks, Mr Thomas said, but Fiji was still on the watch-and-wait list.”

“New Zealanders have shown they take these things in their stride. What we don’t know is where it (the Fiji situation) will get to.”

Chinese visitation was also strong, up 34% on last May, an increase buoyed by the introduction of direct flights and increasing business relationships.

“The needs of business have driven airlines to make it easier to get there and that has now opened it up to the leisure traveller,” Mr Thomas said.

Inbound tourism was up by 4% in May, with Australian arrivals the largest increase, including 1300 more holidaymakers than in May last year.

Tourism New Zealand CEO George Hickton said that was encouraging, given the time of year. “An 8% lift in holiday arrivals from our biggest market, at what is traditionally one of the quietest times of the year, is great news.”

Report by The Mole and The Dominion Post