Tourism set for school holiday boost

It looks like New Zealanders are ready to travel domestically again over the winter school holidays, according to figures from Auckland Airport.

Although numbers are of course down compared to last year, confidence in air travel seems to be bouncing back with Queenstown a hot destination.

The July school holidays are traditionally the busiest travel period outside Christmas at Auckland Airport, said Anna

Cassels-Brown, General Manager

Operations.

‘‘The easing of restrictions for domestic travel in early May meant Kiwis have grabbed the opportunity to get out around New Zealand, which is great to see.’’

Last July, the airport saw 60,000 passengers travel through on peak days, but with international travel grinding to a halt, this year the average will be around 16,100, with virtually all being domestic travellers.

‘‘Without July school holiday destinations such as the Pacific Islands available, our international traveller numbers are 95 per cent lower than normal,’’ said Cassels-Brown.

‘‘On average only around 1100 international passengers are forecast to arrive or depart each day over the holiday fortnight.’’

Air New Zealand has recently added flights to its schedule, while Jetstar restarted domestic operations this week.

And the most popular day to travel during the school break at Auckland Airport? Well, that’s Sunday, July 12 with July 10 and July 17 also in the top three.