Is The Gold Coast slipping in its appeal as a Kiwi holiday destination?
That’s certainly the signal from all the would-be travellers who use google.co.nz to search for information about places to go.
When Google provided details of the 10 most popular travel-related searches in its New Zealand search engine during 2008, Australia was first, Gold Coast second and Brisbane fifth.
But the figures for 2009, just released, have Australia dropping to second, Gold Coast to ninth and Brisbane has fallen out of the top 10 altogether.
Of course, as the latest departure figures from Statistics NZ confirm, Australia remains by far the most popular destination for New Zealanders, though in the past year the numbers going there have slid by just under 1 per cent.
So if they are not heading for Queensland’s golden sands and theme parks where are they going?
If Google searches are anything to go by the Australian spots we find most appealing are Melbourne and Sydney.
No great surprise there, you might think, except that in 2008 Sydney didn’t feature in the top 10, so perhaps they are getting more interested in restaurants, theatres and art galleries.
When they look for sand and sunshine, it seems, the Pacific Islands are attracting more internet attention than the Gold Coast.
Google’s travel searches for last year Rarotonga came out on top, with Fiji third and Vanuatu sixth. That’s borne out by Statistics NZ because the number
of people going to the pacific islands did rise
