Kiwis pack bags for several trips away a year

Rebecca Priestley, pictured with boyfriend Mike Harland in the Cook Islands.

Cheaper airfares and a stronger economy have made international trips far more accessible than just five years ago

Rebecca Priestley has got the travel bug - so much that she's been overseas four times this year.

The public relations executive has been to Rarotonga, New York and crossed the Ditch twice to visit Australia.

Cheap airfares helped her leave the country so frequently.

"I know when we went to Raro we got airfares that were [cheap], and for New York I went via Sydney and LA, which made the travel a lot longer but the airfare cheaper."

Ms Priestley said that while she was working fulltime and was without children she thought, "Why not?"

The 24-year-old said many of her friends were either overseas or working and saving for other holidays.

"I've got quite a few friends who are at the moment in Europe and other friends who are planning their trips too."

Ms Priestley was among the hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who travelled overseas in the last 12 months - many going more than once.

One travel agency says this trend was uncommon as recently as five years ago.

House of Travel spokesman Brent Thomas said: "People are more likely to treat themselves and go away for a short break to Australia or the [Pacific] Islands and then think they can also do another holiday.

"This wasn't the case four or five years ago."

Mr Thomas said a strong economy had made travellers more likely to open their wallets for overseas travel.

There had been big growth in the number of New Zealanders choosing the United States as a destination, due to Hawaiian Airlines opening up capacity for trips to Hawaii, he said.

Latest Statistics New Zealand figures show that residents left on 2.24 million overseas trips in the 12 months to August - up 2 per cent from the year to August 2013.

The figures were buoyed in part by a record 208,400 trips last month - the most trips for August on record.

Statistics NZ population statistics project manager Susan Hollows said around half of all trips by New Zealanders were to Australia.

"The next most-visited destinations were the United States, Fiji, the United Kingdom, China and the Cook Islands."

Ms Priestley thought travel was generally easier for her generation.

"Everything has become a lot more accessible now," she said. "It's a lot easier to get places and to find out about other places online."

The number of visitors to NZ in the 12 months to August rose 5 per cent from the previous year, though the month of August was flat. The biggest increases were from Australia, the US, China, Germany and Singapore.

Tourism New Zealand's Asian markets have grown year-on-year, with China up 7 per cent, Korea 3.1 per cent, Singapore 19.9 per cent and Malaysia 18.2 per cent.