August news

TNZ report a 4.1% growth in arrivals for UK in June 2026 vs 2025 and 8.9% growth globally so good news there.  However, UK holiday arrivals into NZ are down for April/May/June after being well above 2025 until then.  Obviously, this is the effect of the Middle East conflict.

Quite quiet overall this month due to school holidays and repeated heatwaves in UK/Europe.

 There is some great PR for New Zealand coming up now that the Michelin guide has been around the country and highlighted 110 restaurants and given out 16 Michelin stars.  Likely to be bigger than this for the UK is the upcoming Gary Barlow Food and Wine tour of NZ 6-part TV show starting 30th August.  I am not expecting Lord of the Rings levels of profile, but it should be good coverage on TV supported by a lot of trade promotions.

 September and October:

School holidays will be over so a good time to get into shops and see staff.  I am booked in to see or do on-line training with: ANZCRO sales teams and BDM’s, Kuoni, Discover the World, Freedom Destinations, Travel Nation, Boomerang, Travelbag stores and some others.