In New Zealand, there are a range of public holidays throughout the year, where a lot of businesses will close and their employees will enjoy a day, or part day, off. There are both national public holidays, which are acknowledged by the whole country, and regional anniversary days, where the public holiday is only recognised by that region.

National public holidays:

National public holidays celebrate different events of significance in New Zealand – for example New Years Day (1^st Jan), Waitangi Day (6^th Feb) and Matariki (June or July, dependent on the lunar calendar). These days are of national significance and the public holiday is acknowledged across the whole country.

Regional Anniversary days:

Regional Anniversary days are set by regional or city councils and are local to that region. They don’t always fall on a reoccurring date and might be observed on the closest Monday or Friday to a date or it could be a completely different date during the year to line up with other events/holidays. 

You generally won’t be too impacted as a traveller in New Zealand during a public holiday.

Generally, adventure activities, tours and hospitality businesses will still be open.

However, there may be some limitations for certain public holidays, including public holiday surcharges, closures and restricted trading.

Public holiday surcharges:

It is quite common now for businesses to charge a ‘public holiday surcharge’ as they have additional staffing costs on public holidays (as they are required to pay their team more for the work they do on that day, and to provide them with an additional paid day off at a later date). Because of this, some eateries will pass on a small fee (normally 15%).

Restricted trading days:

• Christmas Day (25 December),
• Good Friday and Easter Sunday – March or April
• ANZAC Day (25 April, before 1 pm).

On these days, there is a legal restriction to which shops can open in New Zealand.

For Easter weekend and ANZAC Day public holidays, you should find that you still have access to hospitality businesses, so should have the option to head out to dinner and drinks. Supermarkets, however, will probably be closed. Depending on your location, you may still have access to different activities and sightseeing.

For Christmas Day we advise to book ahead if you’re wanting to head out for a meal (as options will be limited) or head to the supermarket a day or two before Christmas Day to grab supplies you may need for your Christmas celebrations.

You won’t find many businesses open on Christmas Day as Kiwi’s enjoy the day with their family and friends – it is really the one day of the year that most things shut down (even to travellers) - hotels/accommodations, petrol stations and some takeaways remain open.

Popular Kiwi Christmas and New Year Holiday Hot Spots

Page 6 of the attached highlights popular regions where Kiwi’s gather at their holiday ‘bachs’ (holiday homes), placing extra demand on accommodation and dining options. These destinations tend to be where we also have the most availability challenges across the peak months of Feb/Mar so you can use this as a guide as to where we may potentially expect the need to be flexible with accommodation options and look to 2^nd and 3^rd preferred options if the 1^st choice is not available and/or look to nearby locations. In the North Island our experience is that the Coromandel is particularly challenging due to limited accommodation options and in the South Island this extends to regions such as Blenheim/Marlborough, Abel Tasman, Lake Tekapo and Te Anau.