ISD Partners said Qantas was cutting Auckland-New York flights back from six to five a week.<\/p>\n
And it said on that route, Air New Zealand would deploy a premium-heavy 214-seat Dreamliner instead of a 275-seat configuration.<\/p>\n
Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown. The South Island is having an outsized influence on projected summer visitor numbers. Photo \/ Reboredo Sergi, Hemis via AFP<\/p>\n
Simon White, EVT Hotels New Zealand and Pacific country manager, said the South Island was clearly doing well.<\/p>\n
\u201cQueenstown is our powerhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the alpine holiday hotspot had not \u201cmissed a beat\u201d and had strong demand from Australia and the UK.<\/p>\n
In the North Island, Rotorua was an outlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cRotorua looks like it\u2019s going to have a cracker in November.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the lakeside city had a blip for a few months but was in a strong tourism market position now.<\/p>\n
EVT runs Atura, Rydges, LyLo and QT Hotels & Resorts.<\/p>\n
White said overall visitor numbers from China to New Zealand still had a way to reach pre-Covid peaks. <\/p>\n
But Australia, the US and Taiwan had been up on pre-pandemic levels, he said. <\/p>\n
He said some of the credit for that should be given to T\u0101taki Auckland Unlimited and Tourism New Zealand for promoting New Zealand destinations.<\/p>\n
ASB senior economist Mark Smith said many Kiwis were probably deferring travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouseholds in general have been pretty much under the pump, so that\u2019s sapping discretionary spending.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exchange rate was a challenge for outbound demand, with the NZ dollar near 17-year lows compared to the Australian dollar.<\/p>\n
Smith said Australia\u2019s economy had strong momentum but was slowing, whereas New Zealand had less momentum but was picking up.<\/p>\n
A New Zealand company’s air travel outlook says Melbourne will be the biggest seat mover for extra capacity this summer. Photo \/ VisitVictoria<\/p>\n
The South Island appeared to be having a mostly more vibrant economy and tourism sector than the North.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more connectivity with Christchurch being more of an international hub,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n
Christchurch Airport<\/a> has said the 2026\/27 summer will be its biggest season.<\/p>\n It said airlines were adding new long-haul routes, more flights and larger aircraft.<\/p>\n Christchurch Airport said 1.27 million international seats would be available across the season between November and March, 21% more than last summer.<\/p>\n Air New Zealand will operate three weekly services to Singapore from October 28, Tokyo from November 28, and Perth from November 30.<\/p>\n The airport has said those Air NZ services alone would add more than 92,000 seats to its international network. <\/p>\n For Australia, Air NZ and Jetstar would fly from Christchurch to Perth.<\/p>\n For China, China Southern would fly Auckland-Guangzhou services and Air China would add more Beijing flights. <\/p>\n Singapore Airlines will use the Airbus A380 jumbo jet<\/a> for regular Singapore-Auckland services this southern summer.<\/p>\n For Hong Kong, ISD Partners said Cathay Pacific would move some flights to the Airbus A350-1000 from smaller aircraft.<\/p>\n New Zealand had a July record for overseas visitors<\/a> and finally surpassed pre-Covid visitor levels for a single month.<\/p>\n But the ISD Partners forecast is for arrivals plus departures, not just international visitors, and is for a rolling 12-month total.<\/p>\n