It might still look busy, but New Zealand's feeling the hole left by international tourism..

Although more Kiwis are planning domestic holidays, numbers from Tourism New Zealand show the revenue is only a fraction of what international visitors would bring.

The industry body is predicting that in a best case scenario the industry will lose about $3 billion, but worst case scenario sees that number double.

Chief Executive Stephen England-Hall told Mike Hosking domestic tourism is going well, but it would need to grow by 72 percent to fill the void.

"It takes about 12 times as many domestic, overnight trips to have the same economic impact as an international visitor.

"So at some point you run out of Kiwis, don't you?"

He says weekends and public holidays are the only real chance businesses have to make some cash.

"The industry as a whole is very appreciative of that, but of course, it doesn't fill the whole gap.

It makes things like forecasting for employment and managing your staff and other costs quite challenging."