A private search party is to examine a trail of footprints in the hunt for missing Israeli tourist Liat Okin.

The 35-year-old was last seen at a hut off the Routeburn Track near Queenstown over six weeks ago.

Her 26-year-old brother Itamar Tas has been running a full-scale search since last Thursday, involving 12 people and four dogs. The private search is costing his family up to $10,000 a day, depending on how much they have to use helicopters and how many people are searching.

About $5000 has been raised in New Zealand and they are Tas says donations from home are a huge help.

He says the footprints could be significant. Tas says it's an area that not even hunters go through and the prints are not near the track.

Tas says they will follow the footprints to see where they lead. He says they have not been able to search for the past two days because of bad weather.