Increase in tourists to NZ expected

Visitors to New Zealand will leap by almost a million to 2.5 million in the next six years, a government-funded survey shows.

The recent Tourism 2000 conference in Wellington was told that a low dollar and strong overseas economies would result in an extra 130,000 visitors a year for the next six years.

More than half a million Australians, up about 200,000, would visit in 2006 with extra Transtasman flights expected and Australian holiday prices picked to rise after the introduction of GST.

About the same number would visit from Britain and Europe, 350,000 from the Americas and 650,000 from Asia.