Auckland Airport looks to Asia

Auckland Airport is looking to Asian markets, as it aims to boost international visitor arrivals to over 3.5 million by 2020.

Spokesman Glenn Wedlock says it's clear Asia is booming, with an explosion in the number of people now living a middle class lifestyle.

And China's boom has created a lot of high net worth individuals.

"The recovery of key markets such China and Korea present fantastic opportunities for the world go grow, in terms of tourism. But it is a very competitive environment as well so we need to be conscious of getting our share."

One of the airport's main plans is to increase the number of direct flights to and from Asian markets. It's believed the number of Chinese visitors could boom from 160,000 today, to 430,000.

Mr Wedlock says the airport is looking at increasing its share, against competing destinations.

"The important thing is to get more via direct services so grow those see if we can triple those over that period, because then we get a higher spend, longer stay."

Mr Wedlock says markets like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are also vitally important.

Photo: International arrivals and customs area at Auckland Airport (NZ Herald)