Tourism New Zealand says the number of visitor arrivals is on target to reach over 3 million a year.
Photo: 123RF
In the latest international travel and migration figures from Statistics New Zealand, visitor arrivals reached record levels for June, up 9 percent from the same period last year.
It brought the total for the June 2015 year to 2.99 million, up 7 percent from 2014.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said this time next year, annual arrivals would be well over 3 million, with the coming summer looking set to be even busier than this year's.
"We'll be well over 3 million international visitors in the full year to June next year, we could be over 3 million in the next two or three months, last summer New Zealand was very busy, I think the coming summer will be busier again, so our big opportunity is to encourage more people to come here in spring and autumn."
He said strong tourism growth was down to a number of successful international events such as the Rugby World Cup and Cricket World Cup, as well as investment in the Chinese, US, and Australian markets.