South Island ski towns are preparing for a busy school holidays, despite a slow start to the season.
Warm, dry weather has kept snow away and made snowmaking difficult, causing ski fields to delay their openings.
But businesses near some southern slopes said the snow has finally arrived, with more expected in time for the start of the school holidays this weekend.
In Wānaka, Kai Whakapai manager James Douglas said business had already started picking up.
"Compared to last week, we were averaging some days we did 550-odd coffees, where ... same time last year, even though we had snow, we were doing about 340. So definitely still ticking over."
Queenstown Airport is preparing for its busiest winter, with more than 785,000 passengers expected to travel between July and September - about 50,000 more than the same period last year.
Douglas said he was already seeing tourists around and expected business would be booming over the holidays.
"Bookings are up in Queenstown, but we also have Matariki this year, which is actually in the middle of school holidays, where last year was about the 20th of June, which is a little bit too early usually."
"So expecting ... next week and into Matariki to be really busy. I think a lot of people will take those four days off and come on down."
Queenstown Holiday Park Creeksyde manager Rebecca Winterburn said May and June were usually quieter months, but some earlier snowfall would have been welcome.
"I think if we'd had some amazing powder days, we'd have probably had some more walk-in bookings.
"But I think overall, we're pretty lucky to live in a town where people do come here for the skiing and the snowboarding, and it's a big attraction, but there are other things to do here.
The school holidays - and July - were looking promising, she said.
"We have good, strong numbers for the accommodation. There's the odd gap in there. They tend to be filled by sort of last-minute bookings.
"We don't have that many pre-bookings for campervans - but again, that's normal. People book a campervan holiday so they can have flexibility."
But the impact of the cost of living was clear, she said.
"Looking back, we survived Covid. We'll survive a slow start to the winter. We're definitely feeling the pinch but I think it's about weathering the storms."
In Canterbury near Mt Hutt, The Alpine Grind owner Mandeep Singh was preparing for his first winter in the Methven cafe.
"The ski field here, it opened really late. They're supposed to be open 12th of June, so now they open last Saturday. But it's like I'm still waiting for school holidays and more snow."
But he knew times were tough.
"Things are getting expensive in the winter too. So living costs definitely matter. Less travel, traveling and less spending in restaurants and cafes."
Mat Woods is the chief executive for Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism. He said the school holidays were tracking really well despite a slow start to winter.
"We're sort of used to seeing the early snowmaking conditions that enable us to open early, and unfortunately this year we haven't had those cold temperatures to enable snowmaking - apart from Coronet Peak, of course, with the investment in their new snow factory which enabled them to open at King's Birthday which has been fantastic."
Students from the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria were already on holiday.
"Those Australians are here in good numbers already. And then, of course, we kick off with the New Zealand school holidays starting this weekend and New South Wales. And so we're seeing really strong bookings, particularly out of Australia," Woods said.
"And we're expecting to see good numbers from domestic New Zealand."
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
