Recent reports show that there have been some impressive growth figures for the New Zealand tourism board in the past twelve months. Visitor numbers in the country are up a respectable 6.1% for the year up until this April, with 2.78 million tourists arriving in total for the entire year and 224,200 of those appeared in the last month alone. While it is easy to attribute any high gains for April to the late timing of school holidays, the overall growth in a number of key western markets cannot be ignored. Statistics show that 2.8% more Brits holidayed in New Zealand over the year but this was surpassed by the 11.3% more Americans and an impressive 16.3% more Germans. This growth is certainly worth celebrating but Western markets have been a reliable resource for a while now; the figures that are arguably much more interesting further on it these reports are those regarding Chinese visitors.
Chinese tourists are increasing not just in number but in “quality”.
There was also a notable increase in the number of Chinese travellers heading to New Zealand in the past 12 months, with figures up by 10.4%. The difference here is that many New Zealand tourism officials are talking about the of “quality” of these arrivals, and attributing this positive growth to the new China Travel Law that was implemented in October of last year. These new regulations have been created to ensure that Chinese travellers have better choices when heading abroad, with Chinese travel agents now having to offer better quality packages to their clients, and more available stay days. The result was that 199,072 more stay days were enjoyed by Chinese visitors, an increase of 26.8%. Chinese tourists can now spend longer in New Zealand, take advantage of packages at the higher end of the scale and spend more money – all of which is promising for New Xealand's tourism revenue and suggests there will be continued gains in the Chinese market.