Travel Wires: Auckland, Sydney top choices for Easter

Wellington was one of the top places to spend Easter weekend in NZ.

Latest figures from Wotif show that our two biggest cities were the most popular destinations for Kiwis over Easter. The site's accommodation booking demand revealed Auckland and Wellington were the top two places for New Zealanders to spend the long weekend, followed by Rotorua, Taupo, Christchurch and Queenstown. Internationally, Aussie was our favoured destination, with Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast the top choices, in that order.

New airport hotel for Christchurch

Christchurch Airport is in line for another hotel with news this week that AccorHotels plans to build a 200-room Novotel next to the Christchurch International Terminal. The hotel, which is being designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects, will feature a restaurant and bar, function and meeting room facilities. Christchurch Airport Chief Executive Malcolm Johns says the airport will invest $80 million in land and improvements for the hotel development. Construction will commence in May, with the hotel scheduled to open in late 2017.

Enter your best photos and stories

Entries are now open for this year's Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards, and the supreme winners for the Travel Writer of the Year and Travel Photographer of the Year categories will each receive double tickets to Madrid travelling with Cathay Pacific. This year Herald Travel is sponsoring the award for the Best Unpublished Travel Image. The deadline for entering the awards is Friday June 17, and the winners will be announced at the awards presentation gala evening on Wednesday, August 19 at the Heritage Hotel, Auckland. Go to travcom.org.nz for more information.

Aussie the No 1 destination for school holidays

The school holidays are just around the corner, from Saturday April 16 to Sunday May 1, and research by Cheapflights has found Australia remains the top destination for Kiwi families for the break. Sydney comes top of the list for those from Auckland and Christchurch, while Wellingtonians plan to head for Brisbane. Nadi, Fiji, also remains a top 10 destination, along with the Gold Coast, Denpasar, Bali, Manila, Philippines, London, England, and Delhi, India. Auckland Airport is expected to be the busiest airport in the New Zealand with more than 68 per cent of all school holiday travellers passing through its gates; while April 16 and April 22 will be the most popular departure dates.

We like...

The raft of cheap airfares for the US being released all over the show. We can remember when it cost around $350 just to get to Napier. Now that's what it costs you to get to LA.

We don't like...

Shouty people who bellow at the top of their lungs in hotel corridors early in the morning. Just because you're up early, doesn't mean we all need to be. Shuddup!

Tell us what you like and don't like in the world of travel. Email TRAVEL@NZHERALD.CO.NZ