Porters Boutique Hotel conference and hotel operations supervisor Casey Packer says its 42 rooms were fully booked on the Saturday night and near capacity on the Sunday.
Bookings throughout the year were starting to pick up but they were still a bit slow at the end of July, she says.
Operators said visitors are coming to the region from the usual areas: Wellington, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and Waikato.
Hawke's Bay Tourism chief executive Hamish Saxton says the weekend was a significant boost to the region's visitor economy, which showed how resilient parts of the industry can be and "how ready Kiwis are for a New Zealand holiday".
"They say this weekend saw an energy and vibe return to our visitor economy and that's really exciting for them."
But the busy weekend is not an indication of a return to normal, accommodation operators said.
"I want to acknowledge there are operators who are still struggling and have obstacles to face, many who will have had a higher reliance on international visitors, events and conferences."
Saxton says some of their hospitality businesses noted social restrictions reducing customer numbers still limited their financial viability but hoped this weekend was "a good sign of things to come".
Sandy Tinetti, from Anchorage Motor Lodge, says while its 44 rooms were full for two nights over the weekend, it would "never be back to normal".
Art Deco Masonic general manager Rob Poole agreed, saying things had picked up, but June and July were still down on last year.
Bookings over the long weekend had "exceeded expectations".
"It has been driven solely by New Zealanders, which was great - and talking to guests, they are out and about."
Booking levels at the hotels have a positive flow-on effect to other industries, such as hospitality, retail and laundry companies the hotels use, Poole says.
