Open just over a year, for boutique hotel Dunedin House it has been a tale of two seasons. Annabel Tweedale and Matt Edwards bought the building in May and opened in July last year. Coming from Sydney, it was something of a leap into the unknown. But so far so good. Sure, they say people are not travelling from some areas, but the two Australians say their fellow countrymen are heading across the Ditch in big numbers. “We opened last year, from the end of July and then pretty much from October till end of April … we were full, So that’s good,” Mr Edwards said. He said February was madly busy as was most of the summer as people came from all over the place to Dunedin. An economic report for a Dunedin City Council planning and policy committee showed guest nights for international visitors were up more than 9% year-on-year to the end of March. Mr Edwards said Australians had continued to come to New Zealand, but in the second quarter — up to the end of June — most had come to Queenstown and Christchurch. The couple said forward bookings were positive. “It dies off here over Christmas for about 10 days. Outside of that — no, it’s very busy. But we’re positive, OK. We’re a busy business and we’re very happy. “But the war needs to end.” They also have a wedding to organise — their own.
