Trips to Aussie not viewed as real overseas holidays

Last year nearly 400,000 Kiwis holidayed in Australia.

Heading across the Ditch remains a favourite pastime for Kiwi holidaymakers, while trips to the US are becoming increasingly popular, say travel experts.

Last year nearly 400,000 Kiwis holidayed in Australia, but House of Travel spokesman Brent Thomas said some lucky punters did not view it as international travel, taking a second trip to another destination.

"Australia is pretty affordable and people are going there for short breaks - so they don't see it as an international holiday, but as a long weekend to take in some sporting or cultural event and seeing some family, and then they have their overseas holiday as well."

He said destinations in the South Pacific, Europe, Hawaii and Bali were popular with Kiwi travellers, as was mainland US on both the west and eastern coasts.

The Flight Centre's general manager of retail, Sue Matson, said the South Pacific continued to be popular with Kiwi travellers, especially during winter. Indonesian island Bali's popularity was also on the rise she said, with an 86 per cent increase in bookings through the agency last year. "We expect this to continue throughout 2015."

Both booking agencies said cruises were rising in popularity too.

Statistics NZ said last year 388,540 Kiwis holidayed in Australia and more than 91,000 visited the US.

The island paradises of Fiji, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, Samoa and Vanuatu all hit the top 10.

More than 25,000 New Zealanders visited Britain on holiday, making it the seventh-most popular destination, but for visiting friends and relatives it was the second-most popular spot with 64,000 visitors, well behind Australia's 448,000. China came third, with nearly 38,000 people heading to the People's Republic to catch up with pals and parents.

Statistics NZ data ties in with hotel booking website Hotels.com, which lists Melbourne, Sydney and Las Vegas as the most popular places among Kiwis booking accommodation online. It said Honolulu was also popular, followed by New York, the Gold Coast, London, San Francisco, Bali and Singapore.

More than 100 destinations were avoided by Kiwi holidaymakers, says Statistics NZ, including Syria, Yemen, Turkmenistan, and North Korea.