WELLINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Too few New Zealand tourism operators are tapping into the nearly 40 million Chinese who travel every year, said Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) on Tuesday.

    In the TNZ-run magazine Tourism News issued on Tuesday, TNZ regional manager for North Asia Mark Frood said many New Zealand tourism operators were waiting to see where the China market was headed. "But we can't afford to wait," he said.

    "It is moving fast and if New Zealand is not in there, if we don't have a good, solid presence to help the Chinese understand what we are about as a destination, our ability to attract this market will become much more difficult," he said.

    Tourism New Zealand said New Zealand attracted only 0.6 percent (122,000) of the 39.8 million Chinese who traveled every year. They stayed in New Zealand for three days on average, spent a total of 337 million NZ dollars (265 million U.S. dollars) with an average spending of 3240 NZ dollars, and most were satisfied with their New Zealand holidays.

    The magazine said China is ready and waiting to travel and the disposable income in China is increasing in tandem with China's awareness of the world.

    Awareness would be intensified when 6 million visitors are expected for the Olympics in Beijing later this year.

    China is New Zealand's fourth largest source of international visitors and by 2013 the numbers visiting New Zealand are expected to double to 260,000.

    Tourism New Zealand said this year will be the first time it has directly targeted consumers in China.

    It said research has shown that the Chinese people have a very low awareness of New Zealand and see it as a rural country near Australia and is often associated with farms, sheep and vast green pastures.