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.

"I think we may well see 25 percent plus growth on same month last year," Frood told Xinhua in a phone interview.

"We based that on the feedback from the trade, but also we've got a very large increase in air capacity this year, and we've got the follow through from Australia, which also has had a large increase in air capacity."

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, said Frood.

"The leisure tourists will spend the early part of the Chinese New Year with family and then they'll fly to New Zealand for a week or 10 days."

He said Tourism New Zealand had long targeted China's leisure travelers and the efforts were starting to pay off.

"We've been targeting the leisure market all the time. I think the communications we're using are starting to have an effect," he said.

"Like people in most of the world, the Chinese know New Zealand is exotic and there are mountains and a few sheep, but now they are getting a better awareness of what New Zealand is all about."

As well as "a lot more traffic" on Tourism New Zealand's newzealand.com website, "a lot of it has to do with Chinese students coming home and talking about New Zealand," said Frood.

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.

That put China up in Tourism New Zealand's "tier one" target markets, alongside Australia, and with a promotional budget of " several million dollars," said Frood.

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.

"New Zealand has a good reputation for drivability we're small enough to get around on a short holiday."

Tourism New Zealand recognized the country would 'never be a mass destination" such as parts of western Europe with their historic attractions, but it was aiming for a more sophisticated traveler, he said.

"We're kind of targeting the third or fourth time traveler who has a bit of experience and they're looking for something more exotic. The landscapes and the environment, the cleanliness, the food are a huge part of that appeal."

Frood said Tourism New Zealand would be stepping up its marketing in the coming year, following on from the successful campaign based on actress Yeo Chen's blogging of her own tour.

Digital, print, public relations and joint venture activities with trade and airline partners was expected to drive demand, he said.

Tourism New Zealand had complaints from Chinese travelers about tours in the past, but had removed offending tour companies in China and New Zealand from the Approved Destination Status system, said Frood.

"In general we're rated reasonably well and we've improved the rating in the last couple of years."

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