Australian visitor numbers to Wellington are down on pre-covid levels but those that have come are certainly happy to open their wallets during the first month of the trans-Tasman travel bubble. Quarantine-free travel between Wellington and Australia .
Wellington thriving one month on from trans-Tasman bubble Newshub 4 days ago
One month into quarantine-free travel with Australia, Wellington is reaping some of the economic rewards.
The trans-Tasman bubble s been open since April 19, allowing families and friends to reunite and giving people the luxury of an overseas holiday. We ve had international football here, international rugby here. 19,000 international passengers came through the airport, and they re spending up large, Wellington NZ chief executive John Allen said.
That s trickled down to retail. There s a lot more confidence in the market, we re starting to see that let s get back to normal, First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said.
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The Highball festival in 2019 saw at least 1500 people attend. (File photo) Chief executive Sarah Meikle said the expansion of Highball was built off the back of the festival’s success in its inaugural year in 2019, which saw 23 distilleries, 83 craft spirits, more than 1500 attendees – with 37 per cent of those being from out of town – and 9943 cocktails consumed. Highball Manager Riki Carter said organisers were “incredibly happy” with how the first year went. “We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from festival goers, distilleries and speakers. It s always hard to know how it will all go when it s a fledgling event, but Highball in 2019 was a fantastic way to kick off the first year,” Carter said.