Virus sparks close to 10,000 Chinese cancellations, more to come

Friday, 31 January 2020

Close to 10,000 Chinese visitors have so far cancelled trips here as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, but that is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

More than 100,000 Chinese visit New Zealand each year on approved group tours which were suspended last week after the Chinese Government ordered tourism bureaus in China to suspend bookings.

Last year more than 400,000 Chinese visitors came to New Zealand but a major portion of holiday visitation from China could potentially be affected by travel restrictions imposed to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

However, because the outbound travel ban also covers flight and accommodation packages, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) said that could cover many independent Chinese travellers and up to 90 per cent of holiday visitors from China could be affected.

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In an effort to get a handle on how badly the industry had been hit by the travel restrictions, TNZ sought information from the 38 approved inbound tour operators.

So far about a third have responded and they reported 9,400 cancellations, however businesses serving the Chinese market say the true impact of the travel restrictions will be felt in the coming weeks as groups already in the country leave.

New Zealand has yet to have a confirmed case case of coronavirus, but test results are expected on Saturday for a possible case found in Auckland,

Air New Zealand flights will be reduced in response to the drop in group tours from China.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) said members had already been in touch over measures, such as issuing masks, to protect front line staff.

Tourism organisations and Government departments are on the recently convened visitor sector emergency advisory group which supports emergency responses to incidents affecting a large number of international visitors.

The group met on Wednesday to ensure information is circulated to the tourism and education sectors, and is liaising with the Ministry of Health.

Tourism operators are also anxious to see if the World Health Organisation's decision to declare a global health emergency has a dampening effect on wider international travel.

The WHO's new risk assessment follows the news that the disease, which although still largely concentrated in China, has now been reported in some 19 countries.

There is concern that fear of in-flight infection could prompt travellers from other countries to postpone long haul trips but TNZ chief executive Stephen England-Hall said they were not aware of cancellations from other markets at this stage.

'This of course could change as the situation evolves, and situations like this are likely to have a global effect on consumers' confidence to travel, so it's something that we are keeping a close eye on.'

Destination Rotorua chief executive Michelle Templer said she would be working closely with industry to gauge any wider impact outside of China, and as a short term response Rotorua was increasing its campaign activity domestically and in Australia.

Restrictions on outbound travel from China have also led Air New Zealand to reduce its scheduled flights between Auckland and Shanghai, and from 18 February to 31 March the seven return services per week will be cut back to four.

House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas said airlines were being very accommodating if customers wanted to postpone trips to China.

Typically there was little extra cost attached to changing flights and some airlines were refunding travel booked to China.