Chinese Visitor Spend Continues to Grow

Chinese Visitor Spend Continues to Grow

Expenditure by Chinese visitors to New Zealand continues to grow, according to the latest International Visitor Survey produced by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The Survey shows that Chinese visitors spent $673 million in the year to March 2013, an increase of 42 percent on the previous twelve months.

Peter Ellis, the Ministry’s Sector Performance Manager, says that this increase is a continuation of the strong growth we have seen in the Chinese market in the last two years. 

“In 2012 China overtook the United Kingdom as New Zealand’s second largest tourist market after Australia.  This quarter that growth continued, while expenditure by visitors from the United Kingdom decreased by 25 percent,” says Mr Ellis.

“The net effect of these and other, smaller, changes is that international visitor expenditure has remained stable in the year to March 2013 at $5.5 billion,” says Mr Ellis.

The International Visitor Survey is based on interviews of 5,200 tourists per year departing from New Zealand airports.

ENDS

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