OREANDA-NEWS. Auckland Airport and Tourism New Zealand have welcomed China Airlines’ decision to provide an additional 30 percent capacity on its Taipei-Brisbane-Auckland route during the New Zealand summer.

The airline will operate a 747-400 on the route from 28 November 2013 to 28 February 2014, which covers Chinese New Year – the time of the year when the greatest volume of travel is seen out of Taiwan.

As a result of the additional capacity, the two organisations have announced a doubling of investment for marketing and promotion with industry partners in the Taiwan region.

The increase in investment will see joint programmes worth over one million dollars established in collaboration with the airline and industry partners to grow the Taiwanese market.

Tourism New Zealand and Auckland Airport have been working jointly to promote and develop the Taiwan market and air service connections in the region.  Arrivals have grown 15 percent to the year ended June 2013 and an impressive 38 percent during the month of June 2013.

Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial says, “at over USD 3,800 expenditure per visitor Taiwan is our second highest value market per visitor and is incredibly important to developing New Zealand tourism value. Our Ambition 2020 target was to grow the market by 3 to 3.5 percent on average towards a target of 24,000 visitors by 2020.   With the success we have had to date in this market, we may get close to that target this year, which will deliver an extra USD 15 million to USD 20 million to the New Zealand tourism economy.

“The additional capacity and promotion is not only fantastic news for the tourism industry but also provides exporters with much needed additional airfreight capacity to Asia over the critical summer season. Equally, with great airfares and full service products at convenient travel times, it is fantastic news for New Zealand travellers to Asia,” says Mr Wedlock. 

Tourism New Zealand’s General Manager Marketing Communications, Justin Watson, says the organisation welcomes the announcement and is pleased to be able to support further activity which is in line with its objective of growing arrivals from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“Our campaign work is always more effective when we work in partnership with others and it is a pleasure to see the relationship we have with both China Airlines and Auckland Airport contribute to such a positive outcome for the industry,” said Mr Watson.