Skyline Gondola Cableway in Rotorua. Photo: 123rf
The tourism industry is eager to roll out the welcome wagon for Chinese visitors who have been slow to return.
It was once our second largest overseas visitor market, contributing more than $1.7 billion to New Zealand's economy in 2019.
Auckland Airport chief customer officer Scott Tasker said the Chinese visitor market was lagging behind.
"For the year ending February 2025, Chinese visitor numbers were still down about 44 percent on the same period in 2019, so that's an annual visitor gap of about 191,000 Chinese visitors," he said.
Tourism leaders have been discussing how they wanted to turn that around at the industry's showcase, TRENZ, in Rotorua.
Softness in the Chinese economy was deterring some from travelling, while visa free travel to Asian destinations to the likes of Singapore and Thailand was enticing others to look closer to home for their next holiday, Tasker said.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed earlier this week between North Island tourism leaders to attract more visitors to explore the regions, stay longer and spend more.
China was one of the key markets in their sights.
On Wednesday, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced visitors wanting to travel to New Zealand won't need to get their translated documents certified.
"It's about removing the friction, so the removal of the certification of the translation into English is one of those things that will make a difference," Upston said.
"But we're very clear with the China market that we're open for business. We're really keen to see them back."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
China Travel Service managing director Lisa Li couldn't wait to share the news.
"Now we've removed that and it's absolutely saving them money, saving them time," she said.
Visa-free travel would be a gamechanger for attracting Chinese visitors but making the visa process easier and quicker would also help, especially for larger groups, Li said.
"If we can give them some special treatment on the visa processing, that would be absolutely helpful for those big corporations to send the people coming through," she said.
It could make a difference to make it easier for people who already had an Australian visa, Li said.
Tourism New Zealand planned to use some of a recent funding boost to entice more Chinese visitors to our shores.
Chief executive René de Monchy said the way Chinese visitors were travelling had changed a lot.
"Of that 40 percent or so missing visitors, many of them were larger, shorter staying, dual destination group travel. That consumer trend has really moved on, they are going on to other destinations that are cheaper," he said.
But that was not necessarily a bad outcome.
"What we are seeing is a real growth in smaller groups, that stay for a longer period of time. They, therefore, spend more money, visit more regions," de Monchy said.
"But we need to activate that audience to actually get them to come to New Zealand.
"China evolves rapidly in terms of its travel behaviour. I think the future visitor will look quite different than the visitor looked five or six years ago."
Rotorua sent a trade delegation to China earlier this year.
Rotorua Canopy Tours general manager Paul Button joined, saying they usually had eight percent Chinese visitors, but that had been roughly halved.
"I was blown away with the interest in the premium, small group experiences and how many agents are selling Chinese itineraries where they connect to nature and they do things that have a really strong sustainability edge," he said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was hoping to travel to China this year to make sure New Zealand was firmly in the sights of Chinese travellers.
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