Wellington, Feb 2 (ANI): Kiwis who are single are said to have hyped up online dating through January as more and more turn to dating websites to find love.

Paul Ford, spokesman for dating website FindSomeone, said that traditionally the start of the year saw a surge in the use of dating websites.

“January traditionally sees things ramp up - this year we saw a significant spike with 28 percent more visitors in January than in December 2009,” Stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.

“This is even more than the same time last year when we saw the number of visitors increase by 23 percent,” he said.

Ford also revealed that online dating continued to play an important role in the way New Zealanders look for love.

“The digital mistletoe is alive and well here,” he stated.

A recent poll by UMR Research found New Zealanders regarded online dating as more morally acceptable than a range of other online activities including flirting online, and downloading copyrighted video and music without paying.

As per the results of the poll, 86 percent of men and 77 percent of women regard single people using online dating as okay.

And 89 percent of those aged under 30 said it was okay for single people to seek a partner via a dating website, but only 66 percent of those aged over 60 agreed.

Wellington residents were found to be the most comfortable with Internet dating with 92 percent saying it was okay compared with the national average of 82 percent.

New Zealand’s “hot spots” where the proportion of online daters was higher relative to overall population were Auckland, Wellington, Nelson/Marlborough and Canterbury.

At the other end of the spectrum, online dating “cold spots” included Waikato, Taranaki and Northland, Ford added. (ANI)