About 14,550 Chinese traveled to New Zealand in January 2011, but the incoming Year of the Dragon was lifting those numbers significantly.
The number of Chinese coming to New Zealand this month looks set to soar by 25 percent over January last year as they celebrate the Spring Festival in the southern summer, a senior New Zealand tourism official said Thursday.
About 14,550 Chinese traveled to New Zealand in January 2011, but the incoming Year of the Dragon was lifting those numbers significantly, said Mark Frood, general manager of Asia markets of the government's Tourism New Zealand organization.
China Southern Airlines began direct flights between Auckland and Guangzhou in April last year, increasing to daily services in November, while Air New Zealand expanded its direct services to Shanghai and Beijing over the southern summer months.
The increase in Chinese travelers was also due to a rising number of people visiting family in New Zealand and to the growing numbers of leisure tourists.
In the year to the end of November 2011, the number of Chinese travelers to New Zealand was up 17.5 percent to 141,289, of whom 94,917 went on holiday, according to official New Zealand statistics.
About 75 percent of the holiday-makers came on organized tours and the rest as independent travelers, but the numbers were shifting more to independent travel.
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