Although Tourism New Zealand's latest forecasts to 2016 showed overall positive growth for New Zealand, Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt is slightly more cautious.
The latest national forecasts were released yesterday and showed by 2016 international visitor arrivals would likely grow by 27%, meaning 669,000 more visitors a year, with international visitor numbers predicted to reach 3.1 million over the next seven years.
Regional forecasts for the period will be released next month.
Associate Minister of Tourism Dr Jonathan Coleman said the numbers showed the "highly resilient" tourism sector had weathered the global recession well.
"We are one of only a small group of countries whose international arrivals are holding steady and with the Rugby World Cup just around the corner, we can look forward to some growth."
The Government was continuing to support the sector, with an additional $30 million to put into tourism marketing, which followed an extra $20 million for Tourism New Zealand last year.
Dr Coleman said that based on forecasts, the investment was already paying dividends.
"Given the tight fiscal nature of this year's Budget, this further funding is a huge vote of confidence.
"These forecasts set out a solid starting point, but I believe that the sector will outperform them."
By the end of this year, arrivals should grow by 3.7%, with predictions of a 6.8% increase in arrivals next year.
Mr Everitt said the new forecasts were "a little bit more positive" than those released a year ago, but DQ would continue to work from its own forecasts, which were "perhaps not quite as optimistic".
"In the business plan, we are forecasting 2% growth per annum in visitors to the resort over the next five-year period, which includes domestic visitors as well.
"Tourism New Zealand is forecasting 3.5% growth per annum. Our business plan is based on a more conservative set of assessments."
Mr Everitt said although Queenstown seemed to be holding its own in terms of tourism numbers, there were still several markets of concern.
The European market had been affected by a weak pound and numbers from the United Kingdom and North America were also down.
However, the Australian market seemed to be "going relatively well" for Queenstown, helped by what was shaping up to be a "pretty decent ski season", and the Asian market also seemed more positive.
Tonight's release of the movie I Hate Luv Storys in India was also expected to help with the "Asian equation", Mr Everitt said.
