Kiwis love breakfast and Queenstown

7 June 2012

Kiwis love breakfast and Queenstown

Kiwi travellers are big fans of both breakfast and Queenstown, according to a survey of 17,000 New Zealanders by Travelbug (www.travelbug.co.nz), the travel website run by Trade Me.

Travelbug’s Daniel Bridges said almost half of people surveyed chose breakfast as the one thing they most like having included in their hotel room rate. “It was a slam dunk for breakfast across all the age ranges, with 47 per cent of people voting with their stomachs. Next was internet access with 22%, and car parking came in third with 17%.”

He said it was “no surprise” that younger people were more likely to choose the internet over Weetbix with 26% of those under 30 opting for internet access. For those aged over 60, this plummeted to just 13%.

Queenstown is tops again

Queenstown was named the domestic location Kiwis most enjoyed visiting (with 16% of the vote), comfortably ahead of Coromandel (10%) and Northland (9%). The Otago resort town was also the place most people aspired to visit with 18% support, trumping the wilderness appeal of Fiordland (10%).

Mr Bridges said Queenstown cleaned up in both categories in the 2011 Travelbug survey too. “Queenstown is a place people dream of visiting, and love to return to. Yes, it goes berserk in ski season, but you no longer need to be an adrenaline junkie to have a good time. They’ve done a great job of making it an awesome place to be 12 months of the year, regardless of whether you’re a 7-year-old snowboarder or a 77 year-old wine connoisseur.”

Asked whether they considered Christchurch had recovered as a genuine tourism destination, survey respondents were divided: 51% said “no” and 49% said “yes”. Of those who said it wasn’t yet ready, 84% expected it to have recovered by 2017.

The other tidbits

In last year’s survey, New Zealanders revealed their number one hygiene fear was unwashed sheets. This year the following factoids about Kiwi travellers were uncovered:
• 70% intend to travel within the next three months.
• 86% don’t tip hotel staff
• 4% of people sleep in the middle of a hotel bed
• Manawatu/Wanganui was ranked lowest preferred destination

The rankings
Top 5 places Kiwis want to visit
1. Queenstown
2. Fiordland
3. Northland
4. Coromandel
5. Auckland (new)

Top 5 places Kiwis most enjoyed visiting
1. Queenstown
2. Coromandel
3. Northland
4. Wellington (new)
5. Otago

ENDS

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