Good news for Kaikoura! Airbnb has named the coastal town its top trending destination of 2019, beating 19 other holiday spots which were considered for the title.

After being heavily damaged by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2016, Airbnb said the South Island town made a "marvellous comeback" .

Co-owner of Encounter Kaikoura, Lynette Buurman told Mike Hosking it's such an honour. 

"We're surprised and absolutely excited about this announcement."

"We are recovering really well and I think we are almost back to pre-quake business levels which is pretty incredible in a two-year time frame."

Buurnman said there is a lot of curiously around the earthquake which is attracting people to the town.

"It does surprise us because, for us, we have had the quake, which was an event and we have all gotten on with our lives and tried to recover, without realising there was such an opportunity attached to it."

Despite being a small rural location, Kaikoura has been put on the map because of the tremendous support they have received, she said.

"We've had a fantastic marketing programme that has been funded by the New Zealand Government and without that we couldn't have achieved this recovery. The message has gone beyond our natural means."

Both domestic and international visitors are flocking to the town.

"We've got a huge international visitation here. I can only speak for my own business stats but we are about 84 per cent international and 16 per cent domestic." 

Despite the good news, there is concern over whether Kaikoura can cope with the increase in demand. 

"We are so constrained. There's a chronic accommodation shortage here and it's driven by tourism high season demand for staff, as well as the reconstruction of our roads and infrastructure which is happening, so there's a lot of pressure on commercial accommodation so it will be an interesting season." 

Towns in China, Mexico, France and the US were also included in the list.