Holidaymakers dreaming of a ‘destination Christmas’

Kiwis are increasingly looking overseas or to the provinces for their Christmas break, judging by holiday accommodation bookings.

Accommodation website Airbnb said demand in cities like Auckland and Queenstown was up, as people travelled to be with loved ones.

But travellers were increasingly looking outside the usual holiday areas, to places like Kaiko¯ura, Masterton and Tairua.

And ‘‘interestingly, many New Zealanders are also planning to ring in the New Year overseas,’’ in locations such as Seoul, Denpasar and Honolulu, Sam McDonagh, Airbnb’s country manager for New Zealand, said.

Another accommodation website, Holiday Houses, said Queenstown was its most sought-after destination, with searches for baches there coming close to 6000 over the last three months.

‘‘We always see a lot of activity from August onwards, as people start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and get cracking with planning their summer,’’ the website’s Aaron Clancy said.

The beaches of the Coromandel were still a magnet for holidaymakers, coming in second with 4200 searches, while baches and holiday homes in Northland (3200) and Taupo¯ (3000) were also in hot demand.

The website was also seeing more Kiwis holidaying abroad, particularly in the Cook Islands or Rarotonga (2500), which was the fifth most popular destination.

House of Travel’s Brent Thomas said official statistics showed Kiwis were travelling overseas in record numbers this year, up 7 to 8 per cent.

‘‘That shows confidence in the economy because it’s a discretionary spend.’’

And this trend had flowed through to Christmas bookings. ‘‘People are choosing to take holidays over this Christmas-New Year period in greater numbers than they ever have before,’’ Thomas said

While Australia was still the most popular overseas destination, more and more Kiwis were willing to travel to Southeast Asia, particularly Bali, Malaysia and Singapore, for shorter breaks.

Thomas said South Korea was not a major destination, but the changing face of New Zealand’s population was having an impact, with increasing bookings to India and China at Christmas and Chinese New Year.

‘‘Destination Christmases’’ had been a trend for some years, with the South Pacific being popular both for holidays and to catch up with family, he said.

Indonesian Catholic dancers at a Christmas celebration in Bali, where Kiwis are increasingly going for rest and relaxation at Christmas.

GETTY South Korea, one of the few Asian countries to recognise Christmas as a public holiday and a new Christmas holiday trend for Kiwis.