Regional tourism highlights: February

Russell, Bay of Islands. Northland has been in the spotlight this month, with at least three headlines focusing on this region.

At the end of each month, we bring you regional tourism highlights so you can stay up-to-date with airline, travel, and tourism news from around New Zealand.

February has been another bumper month for regional tourism news, with plenty of events (big and small) happening around the country.

Northland in particular has had a busy month, with everything from its new ad starring a Game of Thrones actor to the Hundertwasser toilet block getting news coverage.

Here are the regional headlines that caught our attention this month.

Game of Thrones and Shortland Street stars in new ad promoting Northland

Air New Zealand and Northland Inc have teamed up to promote Northland this summer. They’ve recruited stars from Game of Thrones and Shortland Street to star in a new commercial which showcases some of Northland’s most spectacular sights.

Toilet tourism: Hundertwasser’s Kawakawa throne is flush with visitors

Did you know 250,000 tourists a year head north to Kawakawa to visit a famous toilet block? The Hundertwasser toilet block has become an unlikely source of tourism for the far north.

World wine writers put Northland on the map

Wine writers from around the world recently visited Russell, where they spent two days visiting wineries and sampling local wines. Many are hopeful that the coverage will attract more wine tourism to Northland.

Queenstown working on a local visitor tax on top of government levy

Queenstown may introduce another tax for tourists, such as a bed tax or a wider levy across businesses, to help manage strong tourism growth in the city and relieve some of the pressure on infrastructure.

Skyline Queenstown’s redevelopment approved

The multi-million dollar redevelopment of Skyline Queenstown has been granted resource consent by The Environment Court. The redevelopment includes a new gondola, carpark, and lower terminal building.

Iconic Art Deco festival makes waves overseas

The Hawke’s Bay Art Deco Festival has attracted international attention, as well as significant domestic interest. Hawke’s Bay Tourism estimates that 40,000 people attended the festival over five days.

That’s all for this month. We’ll be back at the end of February with more updates. If you want to stay up-to-date in real time, please subscribe to our Industry News Bulletin.