The appalling weather that has dominated summer so far has been blamed for driving New Zealanders out of the country on short-notice trips to sunnier shores.
Travel agencies say they are seeing a bumper January with many people booking last-minute flights to the Pacific Islands and Australia's Gold
Coast.
"We're seeing people say 'Get me outta here'," Flight Centre spokesman John McGuiness said.
"Places like Samoa and Rarotonga are getting a real boost and Vanuatu is going all right as well.
"So that's big and also on top of that the sales for Fiji have just come out and New Caledonia has just released two-for-one deals."
House of Travel retail director Brent Thomas said they were also seeing an exodus of New Zealanders, especially from the South Island.
"I think particularly down south it's actually been quite cool. In the North Island we've had warmer temperatures but quite a lot of rain and wind."
United Travel spokesman John Wilson said reports from their offices were positive with record sales over the last few weeks.
"Certainly the weather patterns we've had, we believe have contributed to that kind of behaviour," he said.
But he said people who did leave their travel arrangements to the last minute would generally be paying a higher cost for the flight.
"And that's because of capacity and the way the airlines do their seats," he said.
- NZPA
