"Tax increases have also contributed to the number of people wanting to quit. It is a motivator." Ms Thompson said more needed to be done however, if the Government was to reach its goal of a smokefree New Zealand by 2025. "We will reach the 2025 goal if we are prepared to think outside the box and produce some innovative projects that specifically target different populations," she said. "What we know from our data is that, although there has been a decrease in the over all number of people who smoke, we know there is a lot more work that needs to happen with our Maori community.
"We have still got quite a significant Maori smoking population. To reach the 2025 goal, we will have to have a more targeted approach to support those people to become smoke-free."
Nationally, the number of smokers committing to quit was up 345 over last year, following a Government tax hike on tobacco. In the first 19 days of January 2015, 4034 New Zealanders signed up to the smoking cessation service - a 9.2 per cent increase on the previous year.
Quitline communications manager Sarah Woods said the rise in people signing up to the service was mostly due to a 10 per cent increase in excise on tobacco products which came into effect on January 1.
"The way it works is that tobacco companies pay the 10 per cent excise tax and then they can pass on whatever they want to the consumer so it doesn't mean that all cigarettes brands are going to go up by 10 per cent.
"For example, last year the cheaper brands went up by about 3 per cent but this year they have gone up by 21 per cent.
"For a packet of 20 cigarettes from a lower cost brand, they have gone up by $3.80 which is an awful lot for a packet of 20 and for someone who is a heavy smoker that is a lot of extra money."
Ms Woods said the increase was part of a large-scale effort to reduce smoking statistics to under 5 per cent by 2025.
"We are really pleased to see the increase because that is in the context of a declining smoking population.
"In the 2006 census 20.7 per cent of the population smoked and in the 2013 census that figure had dropped to 15.1 per cent," she said. Quitline wanted more to be done to reduce the number of smokers in New Zealand, Ms Woods said.
"We feel that we are getting there but more needs to be done by the Government. [We would like to see] more tax increases because we know that tax pushes people to quit and we would also like to see things like plain packaging which has been successful in Australia."
"We would also like to see tougher restrictions on the sale and supply of tobacco products and more investment in getting people to quit."
This year was the third year in a row to kick off with a 10 per cent increase in tobacco prices. Another increase is planned for 2016.NZME.
-For help to stop smoking, talk to your local health provider, call Quitline on 0800 778 778, or visit quit.org.nz
