Travel slumps but US trips reach record

By SIMON HENDERY tourism writer

New Zealand holidaymakers are less likely to travel overseas after last year's Bali bombings, a survey has found.

But a combination of cheap deals and the strong kiwi dollar has pushed holiday bookings for the United States to record levels.

A Roy Morgan Travel Monitor survey found 614,000 New Zealanders intended to travel overseas in the next 12 months, down 11 per cent from before last October's Bali bombings. The survey sampled 2100 New Zealanders.

The same pollsters found Australians were also intending to travel less, with 9 per cent fewer planning an overseas trip in the coming year.

However, Roy Morgan found Australians remained confident about travelling across the Tasman, with the number of Australians intending to travel to New Zealand in the next 12 months rising from 343,000 last year to 394,000. The number of New Zealanders intending to travel to Australia was static at 398,000.

Meanwhile, travel retailer Flight Centre said that despite the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus and the Iraq war, bookings to the US were strong thanks to the strong kiwi dollar and the lowest fares for several years.

"The USA has always been a popular destination for the leisure traveller but we have certainly seen a wave of bookings far in excess of what we've seen in a number of years," said Flight Centre marketing manager Shane Parlato.

"Kiwi travellers are generally quite responsive to market forces and clearly they are seeing that this is a great time to travel there."

Statistics company Asmal said there was a 41 per cent increase in holiday travel to North America in March this year compared with 12 months ago.

* Visitor arrivals in New Zealand increased by 5 per cent last month compared with April last year.

Statistics New Zealand said 150,400 visitors arrived during the month, with a 28 per cent increase in arrivals from Australia and a 47 per cent rise from Britain. Arrivals from Asia fell as the effects of Sars hit.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the overall increase was due to Easter, a popular travel period, falling in April this year.

"The global situation may have also encouraged Australian visitors to travel more closely to home," he said.

Tourism New Zealand said inbound tourism was expected to be down 10 to 15 per cent during the May to July quarter compared with last year, as a result of Sars.

While Sars has affected the local industry during its low season, the drop amounts to between 45,000 and 50,000 fewer tourists travelling to New Zealand. Just over two million overseas visitors arrived in the country last year.