The unprecedented surge in New Zealand's tourism in 2015 until the end of February has been attested by Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler, who explains the record-breaking spurt in tourist arrivals as a combination of two factors--Chinese New Year and ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Bowler pointed to the strengthening of micro parameters including the lengthening of New Zealand guest nights that rose for five consecutive months till the end of November 2014. Data from Statistics NZ shows that in November 2014 compared to the previous year, Northland was the biggest gainer as a favourite destination where tourists spent more time, with a 15 percent increase in overnight stays, even as Auckland retained its allure with a 4.1 percent jump in guest nights.

Global Destination
The international outlook on New Zealand tourism is shared by Paul Carberry, who is a New Zealand expert, associated with U.K.-based New Zealand In Depth. He noted that New Zealand has been a favourite long haul destination for Brits and its pull is manifested in the overall 5 percent increase in international arrivals showing up since 2014.

Among the international tourists flocking to New Zealand, Chinese tourists are topping the charts. The numbers from China showed a 100 percent hike from 27,500 to 56,000, while the arrivals from America jumped from 5,000 to 36,700. Arrivals from Taiwan also doubled, backed by flights from Taipei to Christchurch via Sydney. Bowler said the growth is remarkable as a real-time spurt in high-value holiday visitors, whose arrivals for February, were up by 24.2 percent.

The organisation has seen a jump in tourist arrivals from key markets such as Australia (1.6 percent), the U.K. (1.8 percent) and India (36 percent). Other important markets of holidayers also showed a big spurt for the year ending February 2015, including Asian markets Singapore (9.2 percent), Japan (11.6 percent) and Korea (12.2 percent). The emerging markets, too, were exemplary in sending more tourists, with substantial year-on-year growth for Brazil (12.4 percent) and Indonesia (13.3 percent).

On Target
Tourism Industry Association New Zealand is also upbeat that international visitor spending has jumped 7.4 percent in 2014 and the number of international visitors rose 5 percent. TIA chief executive Chris Roberts is delighted that his members are experiencing "an outstanding" season. The association believes the industry is on the way to achieve the targeted tourism revenue of NZ$ 41 billion by 2025. The influx of high-spending travellers shows that New Zealand's tourism industry is on track to achieve the goal of doubling tourism revenue, he added. Roberts referred to the latest statistics and pointed to the 14 percent spurt in international tourist arrivals in February 2015, at 343,500, which is "exciting," compared to the same period in 2014.

Amazing Potential
Roberts told International Business Times exclusively that Tourism 2025 envisages the rapidly growing middle class in the Asia-Pacific region as a huge opportunity for New Zealand. Markets like China and India are showing strong growth, while Indonesia and South America are growing markets, he noted. The TIA also launched a Tourism 2025 growth framework in 2014 to meet the industry's aspirational goal to double New Zealand's total tourism revenue by 2025. Roberts said his organisation is making all out efforts to influence and propose policies in the government and regulatory settings to support that goal and identify barriers within the industry.

The TIA's strategic plan for the next three years will include projects to address workforce and infrastructure issues in order to ensure that New Zealand meets the demands of the growing visitor market. The association has recently released its "State of the Tourism Industry 2014" report. The TIA is bullish that the tourism industry is on track and is getting aligned with the goals of Tourism 2025 with its focus on volume as well as value.

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This article originally appeared on International Business Times and was written by Kalyan Kumar.