The Government's number-crunchers announced this week 19,344 Australians arrived in Queenstown in July, up 15.8% on July 2012 and 19.9% of New Zealand's 97,152 monthly Australian arrivals.
A total of 51,264 Australians arrived at Queenstown Airport Corporation's minor shareholder Auckland airport, up 8.5% and 52.8% of the total.
A total of 21,192 short-term overseas visitors arrived at Queenstown Airport in July this year, up 16.1% from July 2012 and making up 11.5% of New Zealand's 183,559 monthly short-term overseas visitors.
A total of 125,027 short-term overseas visitors arrived at Auckland airport, up 7.9% and 68.1% of the total.
Queenstown Airport chief executive Scott Paterson said passenger numbers on transtasman and Auckland routes had been growing strongly.
''We have had to work hard to ensure that the airport can handle this growing demand through the timely introduction of necessary infrastructure and systems,'' Mr Paterson said.
''Auckland airport's promotion of Queenstown complements well the direct marketing in Australia by ... Destination Queenstown and the local Queenstown business community.''
Auckland airport aeronautical commercial general manger Glenn Wedlock said the data confirmed the benefit of marketing direct airline services into Auckland and Queenstown.
It also showed Auckland airport's strategy of promoting Queenstown as an onward destination was paying real dividends, Mr Wedlock said.
''We have no doubt that Queenstown will continue to grow and is on-track to transform from an international winter gateway into a year-round gateway for international visitors, and the second most important international airport in New Zealand.
''This is great news for the local and regional tourism industry and economy, and great news for New Zealand. We are also excited by the proposal for a convention centre in Queenstown, which will serve to broaden the destination's appeal.
''It's important that we continue to grow traffic not only from Australia, but also from other key markets such as the United States, Asia and Europe, as these visitors will travel through Auckland to Queenstown, or direct into Queenstown from Australia.
Mr Wedlock said the Emirates and Qantas partnership showed how easy it had become for international visitors to fly into Auckland on the Emirates Airbus A380, make their way on a domestic airline to Queenstown, then leave New Zealand from Queenstown using Qantas international flights.
