New data has revealed where New Zealanders are heading this Easter with Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney among the most popular destinations.
Stays in Auckland have ramped up significantly on Booking.com compared to Easter 2023, pushing Aotearoa's biggest city into the number one spot for the country's most popular destinations, up from number three last year.
Rotorua is the second most popular domestic destination on the website for New Zealanders, with the tourist hotspot recently recognised for being in the top 10 global trending destinations on Booking.com.
For international reservations, Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne rounded out Booking.com's top three, while Hong Kong notably jumped up 12 places to make its way into the top 10 for Easter 2024.
Webjet also had Auckland atop its most popular domestic destination, with the City of Sails scoring just over a third of Easter flights booked via the website during the months of January and February.
However, international travel booked by Kiwis through Webjet differed from the Booking.com search data, with Brisbane in the top spot and Sydney in third. Australian destinations took all top five spots on the list and the top 10 is rounded out by Fiji, Samoa, Rarotonga, Bangkok and Manila.
Webjet also provided search data in addition to the actual reservations data, which showed more differentiation than you might expect - potentially revealing something about where New Zealanders wish they were travelling but currently can't afford to.
Kiwis' international searches for Easter on Webjet were topped by London, which didn't earn a place on the top 10 most-booked list. Tokyo and Singapore also ranked in the top searches but not in actual reservations.
Despite the cost of living crisis worsening, Webjet reported a 47 percent increase in the volume of Easter flights Kiwis booked this year compared to last.
The full data provided by Booking.com and Webjet is below:
Booking.com's Top 20 domestic destinations searched February 15-25 for check-in dates March 29-April 1
- Auckland
- Rotorua
- Queenstown
- Taupo
- Wellington
- Christchurch
- Tauranga
- New Plymouth
- Napier
- Mount Maunganui
- Paihia
- Dunedin
- Hamilton
- Hanmer Springs
- Wanaka
- Nelson
- Kaikoura
- Lake Tekapo
- Whitianga
- Palmerston North.
Booking.com's Top 10 international destinations searched February 15-25 for check-in dates March 29-April 1
- Sydney
- Gold Coast
- Melbourne
- Rarotonga
- Brisbane
- Tokyo
- Nadi
- Singapore
- Seoul
- Hong Kong.
Webjet's Top 10 international destinations searched January 1-February 29 for travel March 28-April 25
- London
- Perth
- Bali
- Fiji
- Bangkok
- Rarotonga
- Tokyo
- Manila
- Singapore
- Samoa.
Webjet's Top 10 international destinations booked January 1-February 29 for travel March 28-April 25
- Brisbane 17%
- Melbourne 14.6%
- Sydney 14.4%
- Gold Coast 8%
- Perth 4.9%
- Fiji 3.7%
- Samoa 3.3%
- Rarotonga 2.7%
- Bangkok 2.6%
- Manila 2%.
Webjet's Top 10 domestic destinations searched January 1-February 29 for travel March 28-April 25
- Auckland
- Christchurch
- Wellington
- Queenstown
- Dunedin
- Nelson
- Invercargill
- Hamilton
- Palmerston North
- Napier-Hastings.
Webjet's Top 10 domestic destinations booked January 1-February 29 for travel March 28-April 25
- Auckland 33.5%
- Christchurch 21.6%
- Wellington 17.6%
- Queenstown 8.9%
- Dunedin 3.5%
- Nelson 2.5%
- Invercargill 2.4%
- Palmerston North 1.6%
- Napier 1.5%
- Rotorua 1.3%.
