As the school holidays approach, around one in five New Zealanders say their 2026 holiday plans have been disrupted due to impacts of the Middle East conflict, according to new Westpac NZ research.
A nationally-representative survey of 530 people, conducted on research platform Ideally late last month, found 21% of people had changed, delayed or cancelled their holiday plans due to the Middle East conflict and its wider impacts on fuel prices and the economy.
Of this group, 37% said they'd chosen to delay their holiday while 24% said they were now planning to travel in New Zealand rather than going overseas. Nearly one-third had decided to cancel.
Sarah Hearn, Westpac NZ Managing Director Product, Sustainability & Marketing, says with the July school holidays fast approaching, some New Zealanders may be choosing to stay closer to home this year.
"Looking at just those households who have one or more children under the age of 18, the numbers are tracking similarly to New Zealanders overall, with 22% of those with school-aged children saying they'd decided to change, delay or cancel their holiday. Just 18% said they'd either already taken a holiday or were still planning to."
Westpac's card data indicates customer spending on travel (including car rental, airline and tourist attraction spend) has fallen by around 11% since the start of the Middle East conflict.
Meanwhile, the bank's personal lending data also shows a slight downturn, with applications for loans for travel purposes down around 5% in April year-on-year and down around 10% in May year-on-year.
"It's not surprising that some people are responding to the uncertainty of the current environment by putting travel plans on hold or, if they are going on holiday, cutting back a bit on spending," Ms Hearn says.
"We hope families with school-aged children can enjoy a bit of quality time together over the July holidays - even if it's a staycation rather than heading further afield.
"We know many New Zealanders are finding the economic climate tough - throughout the country, households are continuing to grapple with the higher costs of fuel and other essentials.
"Supporting customers to improve their financial wellbeing is a priority for us and we encourage people to come and talk to us if they need assistance. There are lots of free tools and resources available to help people with budgeting or saving, including via our Westpac website.
"We also run free Managing Your Money financial education sessions for schools, workplaces and community organisations throughout the country."
At the end of March, nearly two-thirds of Westpac's home loan customers were more than three months ahead on their repayments, up slightly on six months ago. The median customer was 10.6 months ahead.
"On the whole, our customers are well positioned to deal with the uncertain economic environment," Ms Hearn says.
"We're keen to help people to achieve their goals, whether that's saving up for a holiday, putting together the deposit for a first home or working hard to pay down a mortgage."
