MEDIA RELEASE

Kiwis say Kia Ora USA

Auckland, 23 November 2011 – As the strong New Zealand Dollar made international travel more affordable in the first half of 2011, Kiwi travellers’ love affair with the US continued. In fact, four US cities featured in the top ten international destinations for Kiwis, according to the Hotel Price Index from Hotels.com.

Apart from Sydney and Melbourne, Las Vegas was the most popular overseas destination, with a dramatic fall of 16% in hotel prices. San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles also ranked highly, where hotel prices averaged $205 NZD, $322 NZD and $184 NZD per night respectively.

London was the most visited European destination, while Hong Kong and Singapore also appeared in the top ten.

Top 5 international destinations for Kiwi travellers in 2011

Top domestic destinations
With an average hotel price of $125 NZD, Auckland took over from the capital Wellington ($122 NZD) as the most popular domestic destination for New Zealanders, while earthquake-hit Christchurch ($117 NZD) slipped out of the top five, at the expense of Rotorua and Dunedin.

On average, Kiwis spent the second lowest of any country per night on home soil ($126 NZD), compared with $188 NZD spent overseas.

Top 5 NZ destinations for Kiwi travellers in 2011:

-Ends-

Notes to editors

About the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index
The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI™) is a regular survey of hotel prices in major destinations across the world. The HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com and prices shown are those actually paid by customers (rather than advertised rates) in the first half of 2011.

The HPI New Zealand version shows hotel prices across the world per room per night as paid by New Zealand travellers in NZD, comparing prices paid in the January-June period of 2011 with the same period in 2010.

Full details of the latest Hotel Price Index can be found at http://asiapress.hotels.com/nz/ (live from 14 AEST on Tuesday, 13 September)

About Hotels.com

As part of the Expedia, Inc. group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com, the global hotel specialist, offers more than 140,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide. If the customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the world's largest hotel contracting teams in the industry, negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are more than 2.5 million reviews from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers make an informed choice when booking. The company currently operates 85 Hotels.com sites around the world including 15 sites in 10 languages across Asia Pacific alone. Travellers can book online or by contacting one of the multilingual call centres on 0800 456 081.

Hotelscom, Hotel Price Index, HPI and the Hotels.com Wake Up Happy logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Hotels.com, LP, in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners. © 2002-2011 Hotels.com, LP. All rights reserved. CST # 2083949-50

To find more news releases, please visit Hotels.com New Zealand press room at http://asiapress.hotels.com/nz/.

ENDS

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