Government efforts to expand tourism from China appear to be paying bonus, with special emphasize on the number of Chinese visitors in an otherwise lackluster tourism market.
This week’s statistics NZ figures showed the Chinese arrival number to rise 11 percent to almost 445,000 annually ended April 30, speeding up from a yearly increase of 2.6 percent a year before. Chinese visitor numbers have increased at an average annual rate of 18 percent ever since April 2012.
The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment explains that China is balanced to become a dominant tourism market in the coming five years, highlighting Chinese visitors will spend around $4.3 billion every year, accounting for over half the total spend.
Andrew Johns, the immigration New Zealand tourism sector relationship manager stated that the Chinese tourist numbers have grown immensely in recent years, as a series of new strategies have made it simpler for Chinese to visit New Zealand. That comprises visa initiative with Bank of China and a major Amway China incentive scheme.
Back in 2016, the Bank of China and Immigration NZ signed a contract for the wealthy clients of the bank with Chinese passports to get an exception from offering full-proof of onward travel from New Zealand or their job status. The bank stated that it reduces visa-processing times to less than five days from 15 days, and with half of those approved coming within one working day.
The contract was the first time Immigration NZ signed a comprehensive cooperation arrangement with a commercial bank.
“The collaboration with the Bank of China will not only help attract higher caliber visitors but will more importantly promote New Zealand as a preferred destination to the world,” Johns said in a statement.
