With a fresh layer of snow on the mountains, the removal of pre-departure Covid-testing for international arrivals, and the ski season kicking off, more and more Australians are starting to book holidays to Wānaka this winter.

“Word on the street is that bookings out of Australia have increased significantly in the last week,” Lake Wānaka Tourism general manager Tim Barke said.

Last week’s snowfall definitely grabbed the attention of Aussie skiers and snowboarders, Tim said, but it was the government announcement of dropping the pre-departure Covid testing requirements which has removed “the last big obstacle”. 

“With that gone, there has been a flurry of enquiry which is a huge sigh of relief for local businesses.”

Queenstown Airport (QAC) CEO Glen Sowry said arrivals into Queenstown Airport this winter will be well up on the past couple of years and not far from pre-Covid levels. 

“On our trans-Tasman routes we have three airlines flying and they are indicating capacity is about 75 percent of what it was pre-Covid.”

Holiday home management firm Bachcare released data last week saying their forward bookings for Wānaka during winter have hit a new high.

“What we can see from the latest data is traffic on our website from Australia is around 13 times higher than it was at the same time last year,” Bachcare head of revenue Nick Peirce said.

“Along with significantly increased trans-Tasman booking numbers, this reflects a growing confidence in the market that we are going to see a strong winter tourism season.”

Cardrona Alpine Resort opened on schedule earlier this month. The Snow Farm opens this Friday (June 24) and Treble Cone opens this Saturday (June 25).

The Snow Farm also confirmed that the country's biggest cross-country skiing race and Worldloppet event, the Merino Muster, will take place this season (September 3). It is set to attract an international starting field now that the borders are fully open.

PHOTO: Real NZ