Tonga's tourism ministry says there has been good growth in the industry despite New Zealand's concerns with the safety of its new aircraft - but growth should be much higher.
The New Zealand government suspended eight million US dollars of tourism aid in July and issued a travel advisory against New Zealanders using the Real Tonga plane.
The Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Labour chief executive Tatafu Moeaki says compared to this time last year, tourism has increased by twenty per cent, despite falling briefly in July by one per cent.
He says Tonga tourism had an aggressive marketing campaign in New Zealand early this year and thinks the growth is associated.
"We think that the growth now is a return from the aggressive marketing we did in New Zealand. But I mean considering that, and the standing travel advice, by implication if there was a level playing field, there was no standing travel advice, we would like to think that the outbound travellers from New Zealand to Tonga would be much, much higher."
The Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Labour CEO Tatafu Moeaki.
