Operators record big holiday season

Williams Rd in Paihia is packed with overseas tourists and Kiwi holidaymakers.

Campgrounds, cruises and cafes are bursting at the seams as the Bay of Islands experiences its best holiday season in many years, driven by a huge influx of holidaymakers from Auckland.

Paihia was buzzing yesterday with a cruise ship, the Noordam, in port and the 2670-passenger Diamond Princess due today, adding to the crowds of local and overseas tourists already in town for tonight's New Year's Eve celebrations.

The streets and waterfront were jammed with people, a craft market was in full swing on the Village Green, and boats were coming and going constantly from the jetties at Paihia and Waitangi.

Among the crowds in Paihia were members of the US under-21 polocrosse team returning from a fishing trip: Crawford Liner, Rowan Rockafellow, guide Aaron Toki of Kaikohe, Alex Harvey and Karl Balogh.

Dusty Miller, of Beachside Holiday Park, said it was tracking to be the best season in his 14 years as owner of the campground between Paihia and Opua.

It was always fully booked over Christmas and New Year but numbers in the lead-up to the holiday were 30-40 per cent higher than last year. Forward bookings were "stunning", he said.

The biggest change from previous years was the number of "new New Zealanders" - Kiwis born overseas, including in India and China - who were checking out the Bay of Islands for the first time.

Gary Lucas, of Bay of Islands Holiday Apartment and Campervan Park, said visitors really needed to book ahead this year. He had fielded a huge number of calls from people wanting to camp for New Year's Eve but had to turn them down.

"Tourism is booming. It's great that demand is so strong, and that the Bay of Islands is such an international drawcard."

Charles Parker, of Fuller GreatSights Bay of Islands, said it was already the best season in his eight years in the job with many trips, such as the iconic Hole in the Rock cruise, booked out in advance. Sell-outs were not unusual during the Christmas break but there were more this year than previously.

Most of the visitors crowding the Bay were Kiwi holidaymakers, Mr Parker said.

"I'd like to think that's partly to do with the efforts of the Bay of Islands Marketing Group, which has been doing a lot of work in Auckland."

The group had spent $250,000 a year for the past three years promoting the Bay to domestic travellers. The Bay of Islands reportedly now eclipsed long-standing rivals such as Coromandel and Rotorua as Aucklanders' favourite holiday destination, a finding backed up by the group's own surveys.

"Long may it last," Mr Parker said.

Fullers' main competitor, Explore, is also unusually busy. Bay of Islands Holiday Park on Puketona Rd is understood to have 1000 guests, mostly young Aucklanders celebrating the New Year.

A total of 54 cruise ships are expected to visit the Bay this summer, breaking the previous record of 52 set in the Rugby World Cup season of 2011-12. The ships are forecast to inject $28.7 million into Northland's economy.

While the number of ships has increased only by eight from last season the total number of passengers will almost double from 60,000 to 105,000, due to the increasing size or cruise ships visiting New Zealand.