Rental of holiday homes in the Queenstown and Wanaka area during the July school holiday period is already at 81% capacity, the company said.
Nick Peirce, Bachcare’s chief revenue officer, said the number of international visitors is expected to increase significantly over the coming weeks, with some accommodation affected by staff shortages across the region.
“What we can see from the latest data is that traffic to our website from Australia is around 13 times higher than it was at the same time last year.
“We also know that vacation home rentals are less affected by labor shortages as they do not require staff for reception areas, catering facilities and maintenance.
“With a significant increase in the number of trans-Tasman bookings, it reflects growing confidence in the market that we are going to see a strong winter tourist season,” he said.
However, it’s not all good news for domestic hosting providers. Peirce said bookings around Mount Ruapehu are having a slower start to the ski season this year.
“Looking at properties around Mount Ruapehu, we can see July bookings are down 38% from 2021, up 34% from 2020 and flat from 2019.
“Last year, due to ongoing border closures, guest engagement happened earlier than in previous years.
“With the opening of the border, demand for Ruapehu has returned to the pre-COVID pattern,” he continued.
“The difference between the North Island and the Southern Lakes is because Mount Ruapehu is almost entirely a domestic market, while Queenstown has direct flights into the region from Australia and has therefore attracted international sales. earlier.”