New Zealand's tourism to be greatly boosted with influx of Chinese tourists

WELLINGTON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The orderly resumption of outbound travel for Chinese tourists will be "a major boon to New Zealand's tourism industry," said Lisa Li, a travel operator specialising in the Chinese market.

It is great news that the Chinese market will now rebuild, said Li, managing director of New Zealand's largest travel agency, China Travel Service (NZ) Ltd., who also revealed that there were already more inquiries from Chinese tour groups.

As with Li, New Zealand's Chinese tour guide Uncle Rong has been busy communicating with China's travel agencies and customizing the latest tour itineraries to prepare for Chinese tourists visiting New Zealand this summer.

Nearly 36 million Chinese people are looking to New Zealand as a preferred vacation destination, showed a survey conducted by Tourism New Zealand at the end of 2019.

"The New Zealand tourism industry is very excited about the upcoming arrival of Chinese tourists," Rong said.

Grant Bradley, a senior reporter of NZ Herald, deems the re-opening of China crucial for New Zealand's tourism, saying the decision made by China could send a wave of Chinese tourists to destinations like New Zealand.

Spending by international tourists increased 30.6 percent in the year ending March 2022, and New Zealand is looking forward to seeing another jump in the year ending March 2023, said Tourism Minister Stuart Nash on Monday.

"Our regions have already seen a boost in tourism spending and this looks set to continue in the summer months," said the minister.

The return of international tourists benefits employment and promotes the economy, Nash said, citing figures that tourism directly employed 145,032 people in the year to March 2022, up by 3,615 year on year.

Chinese tourists not only travel to New Zealand during peak summer months, but also make a significant contribution to New Zealand's tourism in low seasons, helping maintain New Zealand's tourism workforce and improve the industry's overall hospitality capacity, Li said.

The sound bilateral ties and New Zealand's good image in the international tourism market have made Chinese tourists consider the country as a tourist destination, she added.

About 1,000 Chinese tourists arrived in New Zealand in the week early last month, a significant increase from three months earlier, according to the country's statistics agency Stats NZ.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, China was already New Zealand's second biggest tourism market after Australia, and spending by Chinese visitors hit 1.7 billion New Zealand dollars (1.07 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, showed data from Stats NZ.