Tourism bolstered by Chinese visitors

Tuesday 21st September 2010

An inflow of Chinese tourists kept New Zealand’s short-term visitor numbers buoyant last month, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Short-term visitor arrivals rose 4% to 168,100 in August, compared to the same month a year earlier, with 5,200 more Chinese making up the bulk of the gain. Not only did the number of Chinese nationals holidaying in New Zealand almost triple from August 2009, but business arrivals more than doubled. Australian tourists remained strong with some 88,000 jumping across the Tasman for a holiday in August.

New Zealand has grown closer with the world’s second largest economy over the past two years after China’s first Free Trade Agreement with an OECD nation came into effect. Since John Key swept to power in 2008, he has made improving New Zealand’s relationship with China one of his foreign policy priorities.

“There was a strong recovery in arrivals coming from China – their economy is still growing relatively strongly, and they have enough disposable income to go on holiday,” said Jane Turner, economist at ASB.

“Australian visitors remained at very high levels” and have helped cover some of the losses from the traditional high-spending American and English tourists, she said.

Some 840 more people arrived in New Zealand than left last month, keeping net migration in positive territory, though it’s almost half the number in August 2008. Australians and Britons made up the bulk of new migrants, followed by Indians and Chinese.

ASB’s Turner said the positive net migration reading was good news, and may help stave off some of the overly pessimistic sentiment about the property market, though construction will stand to benefit more from rebuilding Christchurch.

Australia is still the favoured destination for kiwis, with 2,684 New Zealanders crossing the Tasman, though on an annual basis, Asia is becoming more attractive. About 33,000 people went to Australia in the 12 months ended August 31, down 14% from a year earlier, while 10,600 people went to Asia, an increase of 9%.

Businesswire.co.nz

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