Air New Zealand's had a huge afternoon selling tickets already, but only time will tell just how big a deal the bubble is for our economy

Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen told Heather du Plessis-Allan that a $1 billion figure is being bandied about based on 800,000 tourists coming in to New Zealand. 

"Whatever we get coming in though, it does look like it will benefit our hospitality operators the most. Looking at spending activity pre-Covid, Aussies spent just over a quarter of all their tourist dollars on food and beverage activity."

He says that the retail sector won't benefit, as Australians don't come here for shopping. 

Olsen says it's not the full resumption of tourism activity, but it is a shot in the arm that benefits the industry.

Another question is how many Kiwi tourists head to Australia. 

"I feel like there's still quite a lot of exploring of our backyard that people are keen to do," Olsen says. 

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