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"True New Zealand location": Visitors flock to Kaikoura in busiest summer in a decade

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 16 Jan 2026, 10:51am
Kaikoura’s Peketa Beach. Photo / George Heard
Kaikoura’s Peketa Beach. Photo / George Heard

"True New Zealand location": Visitors flock to Kaikoura in busiest summer in a decade

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 16 Jan 2026, 10:51am

A tourism leader in Kaikoura says they're having their busiest summer season since a major earthquake almost a decade ago.  

Visitor numbers reached about 220 thousand in November, up nearly 30 thousand on the year before. 

Destination Kaikoura Chair Chris Sturgeon told Andrew Dickens tourism and hospitality players says things are booming. 

He says there's a positive feeling throughout the town, and says Kaikoura's beautiful landscape offers tourists a true New Zealand location. 

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