China becomes New Zealand’s second largest tourist market.

Chinese visitation and spending to New Zealand has been realised, as China becomes NZ’s second largest tourist market, according to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s forecasts.

Results of the Ministry’s quarterly International Visitor Survey found China has recorded a 37 percent increase in expenditure and visitation in New Zealand in the past 12 months.

Chinese visitors to New Zealand spent $555 million in the year to September 2012, placing them ahead of the United Kingdom but still well behind NZ’s largest tourist market, Australia.

“In the last three years China has overtaken Japan, the United States and now the UK tourist markets to become our second largest tourism market, as we forecast 14 months ago would happen around this time,” The Ministry’s tourism research and evaluation manager Peter Ellis said.

“The number of visitors from China has increased by 37 percent in the last year alone, and just as importantly, the amount they spend while here has also risen by 37 percent.”
  
The Ministry has partnered with relevant agencies and tourism industry stakeholders to develop a China Market Review, aimed at identifying actions to improve the quality of experiences for Chinese visitors. 

“The Chinese tend to have shorter trips to New Zealand than visitors from other countries, and their experience of New Zealand tends to be focussed on Auckland and Rotorua, although Queenstown has been growing in importance in recent years,” Mr Ellis said.