Colder Weather Drives Cantabrians to Tropical Destinations

A recent drop in the average temperature in Christchurch has seen a spike in bookings for tropical destinations according to local travel agents.

In the last two weeks alone, local bookings to Queensland, Fiji and Indonesia have jumped as much as 300 percent.

Dalwyn Sinclair the managing director of Upper Riccarton House of Travel, says there has been a noticeable correlation between a drop in temperature and an immediate increase in demand for travel to warmer climates.

“It’s not hard to see the appeal, even in the middle of winter Brisbane’s days have been sitting in the comfortable low-twenties while Christchurch’s days have struggled to reach the low tens and at night we’ve been dropping into negative numbers,” he says.

Sinclair says bookings to Queensland have doubled since the start of June to be more than a third of holiday travel, while flights to Indonesia more than tripled in popularity to 10 percent of all leisure bookings over the same time period, and Fiji rose to 11 percent.

Sinclair says along with climate, pricing is a factor in the growth of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast as Cantabrians find the most convenient way to escape the cold weather.