As per the latest statistics released, over one million tourists visited New Zealand during the past twelve months.

If adhered to Tourism Minister John Key then the results prove the wisdom of boosting marketing in Australian region by $2.5 million. It is for the maiden time that over a million tourists came to New Zealand from across the world in a 12 month period.

A "thanks a million" campaign is being launched in order to celebrate. Two lucky people would also win a millionaire's holiday to New Zealand.

This has been seen as an important milestone by Chief Executive George Hickton who said that it also reflects the increased focus on the Australian market.

It has been put forward by Air New Zealand that trans-Tasman bookings for May and June are up fifty percent, and domestic flight add-ons are up 132 percent. "This means an estimated 15,000 Australians have been visiting regional New Zealand in the past two months," says Short Haul General Manager Bruce Parton.