Air New Zealand has launched a campaign to attract Japanese travellers by offering special fares 30 per cent below the standard lead-in fares.
The airline is teaming up with Tourism New Zealand for the advertising campaign which targets "senior nature lovers and young adventurers".
Air New Zealand's general manager Japan, Scott Carr, said Japan remained New Zealand's fifth-largest source of international visitors with more than 3 per cent growth last year.
More than 74,000 Japanese visited New Zealand last year.
For around a decade visitor arrivals to New Zealand fell sharply, reducing 60 per cent between 2002 and 2011, largely the result of the gridlocked Japanese economy and a number of one-off events including natural disasters.