International visitors a shot in the arm for tourist towns these holidays

Queenstown has had plenty of snow at surrounding ski fields. Photo / Supplied

International visitors are back in tourism hotspots adding to Kiwi school holiday travellers who have braved some rough weather during the past fortnight.

Queenstown is said to be buzzing with visitors and arrivals through the town's airport, which is about to face one of its three busiest days so far this year. One Rotorua tourism business says visitor numbers have been higher these school holidays than in 2019.

During the four-week Australian and New Zealand holiday period ending on Sunday, Queenstown Airport expects 190,000 passengers to travel through. This is about 20,000 passenger movements down on the comparable winter school holiday period in 2019.

International tourists are back with the relaxation of border restrictions but are returning gradually in the southern town. Latest monthly figures show in June there were 22,500 international arrivals into Queenstown, just before the holidays, compared to 48,000 in the same month in 2019.

Qantas, Jetstar and Air New Zealand are all running direct transtasman flights into the town.

Destination Queenstown chief executive Mat Woods said the area was delighted to have been welcoming Australians back during their school holidays and to have the vibrancy back in downtown Queenstown.

Ziplining with Rotorua Canopy Tours. Photo / Supplied

"We have amazing snow conditions for skiing and numbers are definitely feeling stronger as you would expect after the border closures of the last two years."

The school holidays in Queenstown are "feeling busy" for operators, but it's been so long since the town welcomed visitors that some of this may be compounded by some of the staff shortages it was experiencing.

However the visitor experience survey results remain really strong and well above the national average.

Data is not complete for the month yet but is showing that overall visitor numbers are still tracking in line with last year, but behind 2020 when there was a big surge in Kiwis confined to the country and travelling in big numbers when it was Covid-free.

RealNZ has major South Island attractions including ski fields, sightseeing and the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, and its chief executive Stephen England-Hall said Australians and some Americans had more than made up for a fall-off in the number of New Zealand visitors.

Qantas returned to Queenstown in May after a gap of nearly a year. Photo / James Allan

"I think in general everything is more buoyant. Queenstown is pumping and there's tons of energy," he said.

Accommodation was in high demand but the whole tourism sector had been hit by the shortage of staff compounded by illness among workers.

Marijke Dunselman, manager of Queenstown-based Smartourism Marketing Group, said the town was "buzzing with visitors" and with direct transtasman flights there were many Australians around.

There was "definitely still some issues especially with staffing levels, but visitors have been very understanding", she said.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa says anecdotal feedback suggested Queenstown was busy although other parts of the country had been hit by significant weather disruptions in the last few days.

Rotorua Canopy Tours was affected by weather for one day these holidays, but its general manager, Paul Button, said numbers these holidays were up compared to pre-Covid in 2019. But because it has had to change how it prices its packages, yields are down.

While Australians and some American visitors were back, Kiwis made up close to 90 per cent of visitors during the school holidays. He could not disclose numbers for commercial reasons but pre-Covid Kiwis made up about 70 per cent of the firm's visitors.

Button said Rotorua had suffered a steep fall in visitors when the Omicron wave first hit in March and April, especially among older tourists, making for Rotorua Canopy Tours' worst performance during the pandemic. But numbers had recovered.

"They're really positive times especially when you think that Kiwis can now go offshore," he said.

Button said that while bookings were dipping through August there was a strong outlook for October and into summer.

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited's head of visitor economy Annie Dundas said school holiday visitation has been positive for a number of operators the agency had spoken with.

"Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery says visit numbers were up 37 per cent in the first week of the school holidays compared to the week prior.

"We are certainly seeing positive numbers, and growth, in international visitor numbers, with Australia and US markets leading arrival numbers."

In Auckland, there were 199,000 international visitor arrivals in the year to May, an increase of 88.3 per cent on the previous year.

Lynda Keene, chief executive of Tourism Export Council New Zealand. Photo / Supplied

Tourism Export Council chief executive Lynda Keene said the main flow of international visitors won't happen until October but it was encouraging to see a small return now.

The council's members were facing staff shortages.

"Businesses are doing everything they can to ensure the visitor experience is meeting expectations. The return of Working Holiday Visa holders can't come soon enough."

It is hoped when holiday visa holders return in September, they'll seek employment quickly and add to the existing workforce and assist businesses, she said.

"From a business viability perspective, there is still a long way to go for businesses to get in the black. Just because the border is now open does not mean businesses are back and trading to full capacity."

Balance sheet reserves and staffing levels have been eroded over the past 2.5 years and it will take four to five years of trading for a business to feel any sense of comfort.

There will be ongoing challenges.

"The industry [and NZ] will have no choice but to deal with the fallout of a global economy struggling to regain its composure."

Despite the council's international arrival forecasts currently looking more promising than previously predicted during the next two to three years, it will take much longer for the international tourism sector to get back on its feet.

"If bookings in the inbound system all materialise, great. But nobody is taking anything for granted," said Keene.

The council forecasts 1.9 million overseas visitors in the year to May, 58 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.