New crowd descends

Visitors from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to New Zealand was up 57 per cent in the last eight months, largely driven by UAE tourists, according to the latest figures from Emirates Holidays. “The market has a lot of potential, but it is not fully mature yet,” Davinder Kaur, regional destination development manager at Emirates Holidays, said. “This is very good growth, but it could be better.” Most visitors are GCC nationals on honeymoon and western expatriates Kaur said. She said the South Island is especially popular with young Emiratis travelling in groups for extreme sports like bungee-jumping, zorbing and sky-diving. “It is an excellent adventure destination.”