10 June 2008

New Zealand’s snow the place to go for Aussie travellers

With world-class ski fields set to open later this month in the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand are again looking to Australia for the ski-bunnies to hop on over.

New Zealand gets nearly a quarter of its annual tourism income from Australian holiday-makers, according to the Dominion Post.  Every year, the ski fields welcome 20 per cent more visitors from Australia, amounting to 70,000 people last year. 

Australians are flocking to the slopes of New Zealand year after year because of the “much better, much more reliable skiing”, claims Matthew Hassan, a Westpac senior economist.  And with the great exchange rate and another season looking packed with snowfalls, the influx of holiday-makers to New Zealand from Australia is expected to increase by another 20 per cent this year.

New Zealand is leading the world with approaches to environmental sustainability, as showcased last week at the World Environment Day (WED) in Wellington, and it is hoped the environment-conscious travellers will keep that in mind when choosing where to spend their winter holidays. 

Queenstown, at the heart of the snow-capped mountains, hosted a seminar on sustainable approaches during the WED week in New Zealand.  As a town run almost entirely on tourism, it proved its commitment to providing sustainable approaches to tourism, business and the environment.

Many people travel to New Zealand for working holidays and invariably sign-up for a ski season at Mount Hutt or Queenstown.  Anyone interested in taking a working holiday to New Zealand should confirm their eligibility by taking Visa Bureau’s online assessment.