An outbreak of dengue fever in Samoa in 2017 accounted for the 51 cases reported in New Zealand.
The potentially fatal disease can only be contracted from the bite of a particular mosquito which is not in New Zealand.
Popular holiday spot Fiji followed Samoa in the list of the holiday sickness spots, with 62 people returning home with notifiable diseases - 30 with dengue fever, 23 with mumps and most of the others with the zika virus.
India was third on the list while Tonga and Thailand rounded out the top five.
There were 42 cases of malaria reported to the Ministry of Health - close to double that of 2016.
Southern and Central Asia followed by South-East Asia were the Malaria hotspots.
Public health physician at ESR Jill Sherwood said diseases from the mosquito could be prevented.
Wearing light clothes to cover arms and legs and using DEET- based insect repellent helped prevent bites.
"The mosquitoes in these countries bite during the day and especially first thing in the morning so people need to take precautions even sitting on the beach," she said.
The spread of mumps from person to person raised the risk of causing an outbreak in New Zealand when people returned from holiday with the disease, Sherwood said.
There was an outbreak last year with the high numbers coming back infected from Tonga and Fiji.
With the increase of flights booked online, rather than with a travel agent, people were not as aware of the diseases prevalent in certain countries.
"It would be great if there was a pop-up with vaccine and disease information when you booked a flight to an at-risk country," Sherwood said.
Despite the high numbers of serious notifiable illnesses, it's gastro bugs, urinary tract and ear infections, food poisoning and skin problems that are the most common "travel bugs" brought home.
They can all be contracted in New Zealand so doctors can't be 100 per cent sure they were caught overseas, but many reported having travelled during the incubation period.
Debilitating stomach bugs were a big problem for travellers, the most common condition being shigellosis.
The infection, similar to E.Coli, is spread through contaminated food and water or contact with an infected person.
Samoa and India shared the top spot for the bug with 34 people each getting sick with the diarrhoea and fever-causing illness after visiting the countries.
The gut parasites cryptosporidiosis and giardia are common in New Zealand but Sherwood said people on holiday were also at risk.
She said holiday makers were more likely to eat on the run, swim in hotel pools and not have proper facilities to wash their hands.
"People forget that even clean-looking recreational or drinking water can harbour a lot of germs," she said.
Professor Michael Baker from the Department of Public Health at Otago University said the islands brought an increased risk for waterborne illnesses.
"They are also more likely to be relaxed about drinking water, which may be contaminated."
"Anywhere warm with limited access to a clean safe water supply is going to see an increased risk," Baker said.
Four other notifiable illnesses, which can be contracted in New Zealand, but where people had been overseas during the incubation period, included vaccine-preventable diseases mumps, measles, hepatitis A and typhoid.
Nine people returning to New Zealand with the viral liver disease hepatitis A said they were in Samoa during the incubation period - more than any other country.
India topped the list for typhoid diagnosis with 17 cases.
Chris White at Southern Cross Travel Insurance said most claims were made by New Zealanders returning from South East Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Fiji and Bali.
They included everything from postponed travel home because of illness to costs of injections for rabies when someone was bitten by a monkey in Asia.
The most expensive countries the company sees claims for include America, France and Switzerland.
Where we got sick on holiday
Samoa , 79
Dengue, 51
Malaria, 9
Hepatitis A, 8
Typhoid, 8
Ross River virus, 1
Chikungunya, 1
Mumps, 1
Fiji, 62
Dengue fever, 30
Mumps, 23
Zika, 7
Chikungunya fever, 2
India, 54
Typhoid, 17
Dengue fever, 16
Malaria, 9
Hepatitis A, 6
Rickettsial disease, 1
Mumps, 1
Tonga, 27
Mumps, 21
Hepatitis A, 6
Thailand, 23
Dengue fever, 17
Mumps, 3
Zika virus, 1
Rickettsial disease, 1
Taeniasis, 1
Australia, 19
Mumps, 13
Ross River virus, 6
Indonesia, 12
Malaria, 8
Measles, 3
Chikungunya, 1
Papua New Guinea, 10
Malaria, 10
Philippines, 8
Hepatitis A, 6
Zika virus, 1
Mumps, 1
Vanuatu, 5
Mumps, 5
Vietnam, 4
Zika virus, 1
Rickettsial disease, 1
Taeniasis, 1
Mumps, 1
Italy, 3
Mumps, 3
Japan, 3
Mumps, 3
China, 2
Chikungunya, 1
Rickettsial disease, 1
Kiribati, 2
Mumps, 2
Tuvalu, 2
Mumps, 2
Bangladesh, 2
Chikungunya, 2
Congo, 2
Malaria, 2
Zimbabwe, 2
Malaria, 2
Nigeria, 2
Malaria, 2
Laos, 2
Malaria, 1
Taeniasis, 1
Singapore, 2
Zika virus, 1
Measles, 1
Cambodia, 2
Zika virus, 1
Mumps, 1
Solomons, 2
Malaria, 2
Guatemala
Chikungunya, 1
Lebanon
Mumps, 1
Switzerland
Mumps, 1
Malaysia
Chikungunya, 1
Taiwan
Rickettsial disease, 1
Sri Lanka
Zika virus, 1
Kenya
Malaria, 1
Madagascar
Malaria, 1
Sudan
Malaria, 1
Afghanistan
Malaria, 1
Guatemala
Malaria, 1
Peru
Malaria, 1
Central Africa
Malaria, 1
Ethiopia
Taeniasis, 1
France
Taeniasis, 1
Northern Europe
Taeniasis, 1
Cook Islands
Mumps, 1
Greece
Mumps, 1
Qatar
Mumps, 1
Note: The figures represent diseases reported to district health boards in 2017 which can only be caught overseas, or vaccine-preventable diseases caught overseas such as mumps.
Source: ESR
