A man uses a smartphone to take a photo of a beach. Photo: 123RF
Youth travel businesses are hopeful to recover some of their losses this summer after one of their worst winters ever.
One hostel industry advocate said occupancy levels collapsed across the motu in May and it has been a hard slog since then.
But operators said green shoots were appearing for the summer ahead.
Intrepid Travel New Zealand general manager Eve Lawrence said it was a cracker start to the year and then it went downhill.
Tourism operators look to recover from winter
"Winter has been exceptionally soft. It's been probably the worst winter we've had on record for the last decade to be honest. The snow just hasn't arrived and the customers just haven't been booking for the winter so it's had quite a downturn this year," she said.
Summer was looking quite strong despite December looking slower than previous years, Lawrence said.
"We're seeing an uptick now in youth travellers coming from European markets, which is great. We're about 124 percent of 2023 bookings for youth markets so far."
Bookings were still coming through for the summer ahead.
"We're confident that we'll have a strong summer. But I think once news of all these cost increases come out for visas and (the International Visitor Levy) and we get some international press, we could see a downturn in bookings. But we're all keeping our fingers crossed that that won't be the case," Lawrence said.
Photo: 123RF
She described the youth market as very price sensitive.
"We do need to still be competitive and maintain competitiveness in market versus other countries, which I don't feel that we are at the moment, unfortunately."
Adventure Hostels New Zealand managing director Brett Duncan said occupancy rates fell off a cliff in May across the motu and the winter had been dire.
The decline in working holiday visa approvals and arrivals last year, higher interest rates and the cost of living had not helped, he said.
He remained hopeful for the summer as visa approvals and arrivals were improving, but said it was too far out to make an accurate call as bookings were often made days or weeks in advance.
"There are a few green shoots starting to pop up from November onwards where forward bookings are slightly ahead of last year for November, gives us a little bit of hope coming into the summer," he said.
Duncan is also on the Backpacker Youth Adventure Tourism Association's board as an advocate for the hostel industry.
The hostel industry is about half the size in the wake of the pandemic.
He did not believe it was time for panic stations, but said he expected the next 18 months to be a bit of a slog for many.
"I think also with the lack of competitors that we have in the industry compared to 2019 due to all the closures throughout Covid, that is probably enough to get our industry through having a reasonable summer, if not a great one."
Tourism Export Council of New Zealand chief executive Lynda Keene still expected a bit of growth.
"We're seeing a softening with our forward bookings. These first two seasons we've had double digit growth - 55 percent with the first season, we're up to 82 percent international arrival recovery now.
"But we've had to downgrade our forecasts for the next two seasons."
Tourism operators look to recover from winter
That meant they were not expecting to hit 3.9 million international visitors until 2026, she said.
While the flights were available, she said the planes were not as full as they used to be, group travel numbers were down, and airline seat prices had not fallen as expected.
They were also getting feedback from overseas markets - particularly India and China - about the international visitor levy going from $35 to $100 from October, Keene said.
"New Zealand has just hit a bit of a price ceiling and we need to be very, very careful about New Zealand's competitiveness for that international traveller, so we are worried."
Time would tell whether the extra costs would keep some travellers at bay.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram said this was a really important summer as they always thought it would take two to three years to recover.
"We are seeing signals of two percent growth on last summer for our international visitors, but it's still early days," she said.
"Many tourism businesses have noticed a change in domestic visitation, with Kiwis either not travelling, planning shorter stays, or spending less.
"However, the summer bookings are rolling in, and we are looking forward to hosting visitors for their well-earned break or their once-in-a-lifetime adventures."