Chinese tourists are expected to spend more money in New Zealand and will overtake UnitedStates and British tourists in spending by mid-2012, according to official estimates released onSept 20.
The Ministry of Economic Development's updated New Zealand Tourism Forecasts for2011-2016 show Chinese tourists will spend NZ$604 million ($495 million) in 2013, easilyovertaking the expenditure of US and UK tourists.
Not until 2014, however, will the number of Chinese tourists exceed those of the UK and US.
Australia will still be New Zealand's largest market by a considerable margin, with NZ$1.9 billion($1.56 billion) expenditure forecast for 2016.
The forecast said the long-term strength of the New Zealand dollar and the poorly performingUK and US economies were the main reasons for the stable numbers from those countries.
In contrast, Chinese tourism is increasing globally and the New Zealand industry is seeing thebenefits.
The impact of the Christchurch earthquake has had significant impact on the South Korean andJapanese markets. Meanwhile, new airline connections had seen a significant increase inMalaysian arrivals.
"The outlook for the next five years is strong, but the origin of tourists we are hosting ischanging. The forecasts show strong growth from China and promising emerging markets likeMalaysia," said Liz MacPherson, tourism deputy secretary at Ministry of EconomicDevelopment.
The forecasts show that tourism spending from all countries will have increased from NZ$5.8billion ($4.75 billion) this year to NZ$6.6 billion ($5.4 billion) by 2016. A total of 3 million touristswill visit New Zealand in 2016.
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