Chinese Kiwis spend $315m a year exploring their new home

Thursday, 12 April 2018

Chinese Kiwis are travelling widely around New Zealand and they are big tourism ambassadors for their new home.

Chinese Kiwis are spending up large on exploring New Zealand, and they have a big influence on the travel plans of visiting friends and family.

An online survey of 1183 Chinese New Zealanders by Trace Research estimated Chinese residents spent about $315m on domestic holidays last year, making three trips on average, with Rotorua, Taupo and Waikato their top destinations.

Enjoying natural scenery, hot springs and spas, and hiking were their favourite activities.

And because they often did not have friends and family to stay with, the average holiday spend of Chinese Kiwis was about $1500 per person annually, triple that of other New Zealanders.

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Chief executive of China Travel Service Lisa Li said tourism operators should be tapping into this potentially lucrative market.

Her company handles 40,000 inbound visitors each year and sells bus tours run under contract by local Chinese bus companies employing driver guides. But Li said local Chinese had a major impact on where visitors went and what they did.

'The impact is not just on those from mainland China, but also from America, the Aussie Chinese market, and friends and relatives living in Europe.'

Sam Pan, who lives near Hamilton, said he and his family usually took New Zealand holidays once or twice a year, and helped visitors from China decide where to go.

Queenstown, Christchurch, Rotorua and Bay of Islands were usually on the list and he recommended first time visitors avoid driving themselves.

The Trace Research survey showed almost 70 per cent of Chinese Kiwis advise first-time visitors from mainland China to take Chinese bus tour instead of hiring a car.

Trace chief executive Dr Andrew Zhu said the longer Chinese had lived here, the more likely they were to offer recommend that, which went against the growing trend for Chinese tourists to travel independently.

'I've been here 17 years and I would never recommend a self drive tour. We know the risk of having strangers on the road without a New Zealand driver's licence. It's a safety concern.

'Next time they come, they're more than happy to do independent travel.'

Time was also a factor because Chinese Kiwis were often busy working and could not take time off to host visitors on a tour.

Zhu said the research also showed a mismatch between the travel expectations of the two groups.

'Mainland Chinese come here and want to shop, but local Chinese recommend don't shop, you come here to enjoy the experience, and you can buy all this stuff on line on e-commerce platforms.'

The exception to that was New Zealand wine, which was much cheaper here than in China.

According to the survey, about 40 per cent of Chinese Aucklanders made at least one trip to the South Island last year, where the Queenstown area was the most popular destination followed by Christchurch.

Untapped regions for domestic Chinese included Gisborne, Nelson and Southland.

Zhu said getting people to visit those areas and post photographs on popular Chinese social media sites would encourage international visitors to follow their example.

Li said targeting the domestic Chinese market was a good strategy for tourism businesses unable to afford offshore promotions.

'Don't do overseas yet if you're not ready, just focus on the local domestic travel and you will see the overseas [business] follows.'

But it was important to remember that many Chinese researching travel options used sources such as WeChat, so English language promotions were less likely to hit the mark.

Regional Tourism New Zealand chief executive Charlie Ives said word of mouth was the still strongest form of marketing in the Chinese community.

But tourism operators were also using Chinese television and radio for promotions, and they attended China Travel Services' annual Outdoor Expo & Travel Show which is aimed at Chinese Aucklanders.

Last year 14,500 people attended and Li said they made $230,000 worth of sales with some customers buying up to $6000 worth of activity vouchers on behalf of friends and family due to visit from China.