Australians buy N.Z. ski trips

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 26

Australians buy N.Z. ski trips

By

SHONA MARTYN,

in Sydney

Record numbers of Australian skiers will be hurtling down the New Zealand ski slopes this winter. Tour firms in Sydney say bookings are already 30 per cent up on this time last year and would-be skiers are having to shop around to find cheap week-end flights out of Sydney in July or August. “It’s going to be a bumper year,” said Mr Dick Lamb, of Mount Cock Airlines.

“Last year 8000 bought brochure holidays and another 8000 went to New Zealand by themselves. This year we’ll probably see 10,000 buying from brochures — people tend to go the first time on a package and the second time by themselves.”

Apparently enthusiastic skiers now rate New Zealand a better deal after two disastrously dismal years of snow on Australian fields. In addition, the favourable exchange rate for the

Australian dollar and competition from New Zealand firms has made ski-ing Mount Hutt, Mount Cook or Mount Ruapehu almost the same price as ski-ing in Australia. Mount Cook Airlines offered a 10-day “Learn to Ski in New Zealand” package for sAust796 and sold 480 seats on each of six departures in less than five weeks.

At Value Tours’ Sydney office, Mr Len Murray said bookings were already 5 per cent more than the total number of holidays sold in 1983.

“We could sell even more holidays if there were more seats on flights,” he said, adding that the “break even” point for a New Zealand ski holiday was 10 days. Mr John de Steiger of Newmans Tours, Ltd, said it was particularly encouraging that skiers wanted to return to New Zealand “because they have such a good time.”