South's $150m boost from airline surge

Statistics show when Christchurch is the gateway, visitors leave around 86 per cent of their spending in the regions of the South Island.

The South Island is in for a $150 million boost from a surge in air travel this summer.

The number of passengers through Christchurch Airport is set to increase 16 per cent to 6.4 million in the 12 months to the end of June.

Chief commercial officer aeronautical, Justin Watson, said growth in February would be 20 per cent up on the same month last year.

The Christchurch forecasts come as Auckland Airport advises travellers of extremely busy days over summer in what will be a record for tourists coming to this country.

The extra Christchurch services include:

• Double-daily Boeing 777 services by Singapore Airlines, which has lifted services to Christchurch from 365 to 393 a year.
• Qantas adding a new 737 summer service between Christchurch and Brisbane flying four times a week.
• New year-round 787 China Southern Airlines service direct from Guangzhou, starting at three times a week.
• Increased trans-Tasman services from several airlines including Virgin Australia.
• More domestic flying from Air New Zealand and Jetstar.
• New Virgin Airlines 737 service to the Cook Islands.

Watson said it was estimated new would bring in an extra 50,000 international visitors over the next 12 months.

"At an average visitor spend of $3200, so that is more than $150m in visitor spend - the majority of which stays in the South Island."

Statistics showed when Christchurch is the gateway, visitors leave around 86 per cent of their spending in the regions of the South Island.

"No other gateway is that productive in terms of spreading the benefits across the regions," he said.

"Alongside our multi-language signage, we have more Mandarin-speaking staff at the airport this summer, reflecting the fact that many more of our arriving international visitors will arrive from Asia and not speak English as their first language."