The Chinese New Year is making an already bustling Queenstown even busier.
A growing number of Chinese are choosing to visit Queenstown for the national holiday, which this year coincides with the resort's busiest month.
The Year of the Sheep, or Goat, begins on Thursday, and the Chinese national holiday starts tomorrow and continues until February 24.
Tourism Industry Association hotel sector regional chairwoman Penny Clark said the resort was full last week, and the ''no vacancy'' signs would remain up for another week.
Last year, the Chinese New Year national holiday began in January, which had ''spread the load''.
However, the coincidence of the national holiday and the Cricket World Cup with the resort's peak visitor month was putting additional pressure on accommodation.
Chinese visitor numbers would continue to grow, but Queenstown would not benefit until new hotels were built, Ms Clark said.
Destination Queenstown chief executive Graham Budd said the effect of the Chinese New Year holiday became noticeable about four years ago, and demand for accommodation from that quarter continued to rise year on year.
Although the resort's accommodation sector was at full capacity at the moment, he saw it as a mark of success, rather than a supply problem.
''There will be many people who won't be able to get accommodation, but that's the same all over the world in a hot holiday destination.
''It's not a problem. We just need to manage visitors' expectations in the appropriate way.''
However, with high accommodation demand becoming sustained throughout the year, the resort was getting to the point where investment in accommodation was being considered, Mr Budd said.
