For hospitality operators competing for seasonal staff, location can be part of the recruitment pitch. New research has put Dunedin at the top of an international ranking for seasonal hospitality work, with two other New Zealand cities also making the top 10.
Cross-border money transfer provider Remitly assessed 88 seasonal-work destinations across 21 countries, looking at hospitality, ski and winter resort work, and agriculture and fruit-picking.
Dunedin ranked first in the hospitality category with a score of 66.3 out of 100, ahead of Corfu’s Kavos in Greece on 63.2 and Malia in Crete on 61.4. Rotorua ranked fourth with 60.8, while Wellington tied with Malaga in eighth place on 58.0.
The ranking was based on five factors Remitly identified as important to seasonal workers: cost of living, rent affordability relative to the local minimum wage, things to do, demand for seasonal jobs and safety.
Dunedin performed particularly well because of its combination of reasonable living costs, safety and its student-driven hospitality and nightlife market. Remitly recorded a safety index of 72.1 for the city.
For employers, the results provide another perspective on what can make a destination attractive to temporary workers. Pay remains important, but the research suggests workers considering a season away are also weighing how far that wage will go once rent and everyday costs are taken into account, alongside what the destination offers outside working hours.
New Zealand was the strongest-performing country across the wider study. Five New Zealand destinations appeared in the global top 10 across all three categories, while eight made the top 20. Central Otago ranked first internationally for agriculture and fruit-picking work, while Queenstown and Wanaka placed third and fourth respectively for ski and winter resort work.
In hospitality, New Zealand competed strongly against destinations more traditionally associated with seasonal tourism work. Greece secured three places in the hospitality top 10, while Spain had Benidorm, Malaga and Tenerife represented. Portugal’s Albufeira and Algarve region ranked seventh.
The methodology does carry some limits. Destinations were selected through desk research to provide a broad group of recognised seasonal-work locations rather than an exhaustive global list. Job demand was measured using Google search volumes for seasonal-work terms relative to tourist numbers, while cost, rent and safety data drew on third-party sources. All data was current to July 2026.
Even with those qualifications, having Dunedin, Rotorua and Wellington among the international leaders gives New Zealand hospitality employers something useful to sell alongside the job itself, particularly when recruiting workers who have a choice about where they spend their next season.
The full Remitly seasonal work study includes rankings for hospitality, ski and winter resort work, and agriculture and fruit-picking.
More news here.
