Markets
Market insights snapshot - New Zealand
Learn about market spend and recovery trends, current buyer organisations, and consumer priorities for the New Zealand market.
Market trends
- New Zealand has remained the largest inbound market consistently since the pandemic with the market continuing to creep back towards full recovery. As of November 2024, total visitation was sitting at 97 per cent, with the holiday sector alone at 101 per cent. Spend recovery has surpassed 2019, currently sitting at 128 per cent.
- Since the pandemic, we’ve seen demand consistently outweigh supply, with aviation recovery from New Zealand sitting between 90 and 93 per cent throughout 2024, compared to 2019. In 2025 we expect to see a large increase in scheduled seats with a host of new routes launching in 2025, thanks to Qantas and Jetstar. This will only help to keep airfares competitive, allowing greater spend on land arrangements.
- Looking at the distribution landscape – First Travel Group is now part of the Helloworld family, though is still run as a separate entity, supporting their independent agencies including the YOU Travel brand.
- Flight Centre Group has consolidated its independent networks under one new umbrella brand, Envoyage.
- Consumer sentiment is improving in New Zealand with increasing confidence in the economy, following widespread pessimism over the past few years. The Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index rose seven points to 97.5 in December, which was still below long-run averages, but the most upbeat in three years. Economists are predicting further increases in 2025.
Buyer snapshot
- This year, New Zealand will have 10 standard buyer schedules, two Luxe buyers and three additional delegates, sharing schedules with standard buyers. There will be one Platinum Club delegate making a total of 16 delegates representing New Zealand. Many of the group are made of returning and established buyers from key distribution partners and online travel agents.
- There will be one new company from New Zealand this year a luxe buyer, Kristin Black from ATPI. ATPI’s clients range from leisure, MICE and corporates. They are a Virtuoso member agency and highly engaged with TA and STO activities in market.
- There are two companies returning to ATE this year, after a year off. This includes First Travel Group, represented by Kim Beere who last attended in 2023 under the Lifestyle Holidays wholesale brand (owned by First Travel Group). The second Luxe buyer is Penny Ahlfeld from boutique agency, North Shore Business Travel, that last attended ATE in 2023.
Consumer trends
- Demand for Australia is high in New Zealand with latest Consumer Demand Project (CDP) results showing NZ as the leading source market for awareness (84 per cent), consideration (71 per cent), active planning (16 per cent) and booked (five per cent).
- 70 per cent of NZ's out of region (OOR) travellers are high yield travellers. Seven per cent of Kiwi OOR travellers fall into the lux segment, higher than the global aggregate.
- While Kiwi travellers are confident in booking travel to Australia direct or through intermediary websites (or a mix of both). Traditional distribution channels remain important – particularly for customised itineraries and tailored journeys, with around 30 per cent of the (approximately) 1.4million annual Kiwis travellers booking via a travel agent.
- Latest CDP results show the key drivers of both past and future destination choice for New Zealand travellers are safety and security, appealing climate/weather, ease of access, world-class beaches and good accommodation – all of which are strongly associated with Australia. Almost all drivers are relatively strongly associated with Australia.
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