The weather may not be amazing but this long weekend many New Zealand families are getting out and about in their own country - and a lot of them are heading to Kaikōura.
Renowned for its incredible marine life tourism and seafood, the scenic coastal town appears to be experiencing a boom in popularity after suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic, which followed the devastating 2016 earthquake.
According to data from Booking.com, Kaikōura has seen the largest increase in King's Birthday weekend searches out of anywhere in Aotearoa this year.
Searches on the travel reservation service for Kaikōura this weekend are up by 50 percent compared to the same period last year. That's a considerably larger jump than other trending destinations such as Auckland, Wānaka and Paihia, which each had a 30 percent increase.
While North Canterbury the town's peak tourism season is summer, an increasing number of Kiwis are said to be taking the opportunity to visit during the quieter, colder months.
Abba Kahu, the sales and innovation manager at Whale Watch Kaikōura, said the company is sending out around 200 people per day on boats over the weekend - versus just 48 per day over King's Birthday weekend last year.
"The town is really vibrant now after the gloomy, quiet feel it had during COVID-19. The large number of visitors we've had recently has really brought a lot more life and excitement to the community," Kahu told Newshub.
"Long weekends in the offseason are a great time for Kiwis to head off on an adventure and we do see our domestic numbers increase quite a bit during those times, mainly coming from the Canterbury, Marlborough and Nelson regions, which Kaikōura is quite handy for on a long weekend.
"Since COVID-19 we've been doing a sale every winter targeted just at our domestic market to encourage travel for Kiwis. That gives them 50 percent off whale watching winter packages and it is a big contributing factor to the good numbers of customers we're seeing this year."
Kahu said Whale Watch Kaikōura is now forecasted to achieve 90 percent of its pre-COVID-19 sales this financial year.
"That's fantastic for us - we didn't anticipate it to be that great of a financial year," said Kahu.
"We had lower projections, so yeah, we couldn't be happier. Now we're just progressing forward, looking at what's next."
Booking.com told Newshub the 50 percent increase in King's Birthday weekend searches for Kaikōura is almost entirely driven by users within Aotearoa rather than foreign tourists.
