Milford Sound is a popular spot for Chinese visitors.
Research for a hotel booking site shows New Zealand is near the top of the wish list for Chinese visitors and reveals the ancient beliefs that help influence where they want to stay.
This country ranks third equal with France in the list of where first-time Chinese tourists would like to visit during the next 12 months, according to the Hotels.com study.
While ranked at 15th in the world for popularity among Chinese travellers – with 407,000 visitors in the year ending September 2017, the Chinese international travel monitor report shows New Zealand ranked only behind Australia, Canada on the list of where they want to go.
In the past year New Zealand ranked 10th in where Chinese felt most welcome, according to the Hotels.com research.
Next year is the ”New Zealand-China Year of Tourism” when both countries hope for even more travel between the two countries.Wellington is the top on the wish list for future visitors (56 per cent ), Auckland, (45 per cent) and Queenstown (31 per cent).
New Zealand gets only a fraction of the 120 million Chinese who travelled overseas last year and the 2019 ”New Zealand-China Year of Tourism” could further boost arrivals here.
Hotels.com marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand, David Spasovic, said the report showed a new generation of Chinese travellers who were hungry for exciting travel experiences and in more far-flung places.
“Chinese millennials born after 1990 are particularly eager to cross the world, increasing their travel expenditure in the past year by a staggering 80 per cent and committing a third (36 per cent of their income to travel – more than any other age group – as they take full advantage of the strong exchange rate against the Kiwi dollar.”
Just on 80 per cent of travellers visited here for leisure.
Natural attractions were the big pull. with Franz Josef Glacier named must see by 30 per cent surveyed, Maungawhau/Mount Eden crater (27 per cent), Fox Glacier (26 per cent) and Milford Sound (21 per cent).
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