{"id":11771,"date":"2026-03-17T20:49:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/?p=11771"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:38:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:38:43","slug":"expedias-easter-travel-outlook-reveals-hotspots-and-last-minute-travel-tips-for-the-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/expedias-easter-travel-outlook-reveals-hotspots-and-last-minute-travel-tips-for-the-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedia\u2019s\u00a0Easter\u00a0Travel Outlook reveals\u00a0hotspots and\u00a0last-minute\u00a0travel tips\u00a0for the holiday season\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Domestically,&nbsp;Kiwis are embracing nature breaks and easy city escapes<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AUCKLAND,&nbsp;March&nbsp;18, 2026 \u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Today, Expedia<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> revealed the most popular and trending&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;with&nbsp;last-minute tips&nbsp;for booking an Easter getaway.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia\u2019s domestic&nbsp;Easter travel insights<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kiwis are leaning into&nbsp;a mix of&nbsp;city escapes&nbsp;and simple, nature\u2011focused getaways&nbsp;this Easter, with&nbsp;Wellington&nbsp;(+285%),&nbsp;Hawke\u2019s Bay (+110%), Rotorua (+65%)&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;as the&nbsp;trending&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;picks.&nbsp;Other&nbsp;short-break&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;like&nbsp;Queenstown, Taupo,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Far North&nbsp;(+55%)&nbsp;boost&nbsp;the&nbsp;remainder&nbsp;of the list.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cApril is&nbsp;a peak travel period, but there\u2019s still time to lock in a&nbsp;last-minute&nbsp;getaway&nbsp;deal\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>Haley Purdon,&nbsp;Director of Expedia New Zealand<\/strong>. \u201cRemaining flexible&nbsp;with both destination and timing is your biggest advantage. For example, mid\u2011April is forecasted&nbsp;to be up to 40% less busy&nbsp;than&nbsp;the week of Easter,&nbsp;with potential savings of&nbsp;up to&nbsp;15%&nbsp;on accommodation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia&#8217;s most popular and trending domestic destinations<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Top&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;<sup>[1][2]<\/sup><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1. Auckland (+15%)&nbsp;<br>2. Wellington (+285%)&nbsp;<br>3. Queenstown (+55%)&nbsp;<br>4. Waikato&nbsp;(+40%)&nbsp;<br>5. Taupo (+55%)&nbsp;<br>6. Far North (+55%)&nbsp;<br>7. Rotorua (+65%)&nbsp;<br>8. Hawke&#8217;s Bay (+110%)&nbsp;<br>9. Mackenzie District (+50%)&nbsp;<br>10. Dunedin (+55%)&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia\u2019s tips for booking a last-minute domestic getaway this April:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mid-April&nbsp;is the best time to&nbsp;travel<\/strong><strong><sup>3<\/sup><\/strong><strong>:&nbsp;<\/strong>Should you have the flexibility, plan your trip<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>for&nbsp;13 -19 April&nbsp;when&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;less crowds&nbsp;and&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;better value for money. This week is&nbsp;predicted to be&nbsp;<strong>4<\/strong><strong>0%<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;less busy<\/strong>, and&nbsp;travellers&nbsp;can save up to 15% on accommodation, compared to Easter week (30 March \u2013 5 April).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Start your Easter long weekend travel on&nbsp;Thursday&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><sup>3<\/sup><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong>&nbsp;If you&nbsp;are travelling over the long weekend, choose Thursday&nbsp;(2 April)&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;Good Friday (3 April)&nbsp;as&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;predicted to be&nbsp;<strong>50%&nbsp;less busy,<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;travellers&nbsp;can save up to 8% on accommodation.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It\u2019s&nbsp;not too late to escape:&nbsp;<\/strong>Easter is shaping up to be a busy period,&nbsp;but destinations&nbsp;such as&nbsp;Auckland, Dunedin, and&nbsp;Hawke\u2019s Bay&nbsp;still&nbsp;have good&nbsp;availability&nbsp;and&nbsp;value with average accommodation&nbsp;rates under $250 per night*.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FAQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q1: What are the most popular destinations for Easter 2026?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A1:&nbsp;Wellington, Hawke\u2019s Bay, and&nbsp;Rotoura&nbsp;are the most popular domestic destinations this Easter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q2: When is the cheapest time to travel&nbsp;this&nbsp;Easter?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A2:&nbsp;Mid\u2011April (13\u201319 April) is the cheapest&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q3: When is the best time to travel to avoid the crowds this Easter&nbsp;long weekend?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A3:&nbsp;Thursday&nbsp;(2&nbsp;April)&nbsp;is the least busy day to travel&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q4: Which destinations are likely to offer the best availability and value?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A4:&nbsp;Auckland, Dunedin, and&nbsp;Hawke\u2019s Bay&nbsp;still offer availability and value over the Easter long weekend&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Data disclaimers:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* Based on an analysis of domestic average accommodation daily rates on Expedia.co.nz for travel between 30 March 2026 and 12 April 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>&nbsp;Based on an analysis of domestic accommodation demand on Expedia.co.nz for travel between 30 March 2026 and 12 April 2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>2<\/sup>&nbsp;Based on an analysis of domestic accommodation demand on Expedia.co.nz for travel between 30 March 2026 and 12 April 2026, compared to the same period the previous year&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>3<\/sup>&nbsp;Predicted best value and busiest times are based on an analysis of booked\u202fdomestic\u202fdata on Expedia.co.nz for travel between 1 April 2025 to 30 April 2025\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AUCKLAND,&nbsp;March&nbsp;18, 2026 \u2013&nbsp;Today, Expedia\u00ae revealed the most popular and trending&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;with&nbsp;last-minute tips&nbsp;for booking an Easter getaway.&nbsp; Expedia\u2019s domestic&nbsp;Easter travel insights&nbsp; Kiwis&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,138],"tags":[],"companies":[73],"locations":[160],"class_list":["post-11771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brand","category-featured","companies-expedia","locations-auckland","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11771"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11796,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11771\/revisions\/11796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11771"},{"taxonomy":"companies","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/companies?post=11771"},{"taxonomy":"locations","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations?post=11771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}