Plucky Christchurch is open for business

Hunter says he expects the full recovery of Australian visitor numbers to be 18 months to two years away but many travellers are not being deterred.

Much of the city centre is still closed off but there is plenty for visitors to see and do in other parts of Christchurch and it remains a good base for exploring the Canterbury region.

"The city, to live in, is quite functional and there's a lot going on," Hunter says.

"We live here and think 'what's all the fuss about?' in terms of people staying away."

Hunter says that while the pop-up mall is not a permanent solution, it has the ability to gradually morph into one. "I think it could have quite a long life; it could be there for three to four years," he says.

"It is certainly bringing vitality to that part of the city."

Hunter says the city is lucky that the Ballantynes department store - "the David Jones of Christchurch" - sustained little damage in the earthquake and has been able to reopen to customers, forming a nucleus for the shopping precinct.

One thing the city continues to struggle with is hotel rooms, having lost about 40 per cent of its total stock in the earthquake.

"A lot of our large hotels are in the central city and that's the area that has been most affected by the earthquake," Hunter says. "We have 14 out of 36 hotels operating in the [central] city."

But Hunter says hotels are steadily starting to reopen their doors, adding a couple of hundred beds to the mix each time.

The managing director of New Zealand touring specialist Relaxing Journeys (relaxingjourneys.co.nz), Campbell Harris, says the shortage of hotel rooms has been the biggest issue for tourism operators.

Harris says Relaxing Journeys has had only three cancellations because of the earthquake but has often struggled to find suitable hotel accommodation. "We have to explain to people that while they may have chosen to do a four-star type itinerary, their Christchurch hotel might not be at that level," Harris says.

"But we have had a lot of feedback from passengers over the past year and no one has complained about it."

Harris says bookings for the North Island of New Zealand have gone up noticeably since the earthquake but many people are still travelling to the South Island and using Christchurch as a starting or finishing point.

Relaxing Journeys launched some independent travel itineraries that avoided Christchurch but they had limited take-up.

"The flights are still going in and out of Christchurch," he says.

"Christchurch is not a place that people tend to stay for a long time anyway ... most of them will have a day there and then the next day they'll be off."

Harris says bookings are down overall but he believes this is as much a result of the strong Australian dollar drawing people to other destinations as it is to do with the impact of the earthquake.

"I think the earthquake is not a major concern any more," he says.

jane@janeefraser.com.au

Rebuilding anew

Christchurch day tour operator Hassle Free (hasslefree.co.nz) says many travellers are interested in seeing the aftermath of the city's earthquake. "It's not so much people wanting to come and see broken buildings but this has been a major event in New Zealand's history and there is a fascination and a wanting to understand where we are at," says the owner of the company, Mark Gilbert. "There is no way you could do any tour without the earthquake being a major part of it ... we try to focus on the rebuilding and keep it uplifting."