Chinese tourism fails to match pre-Covid levels despite Lunar New Year boost

Duoya Lu, journalist
Duoya.Lu@rnz.co.nz

Tourism operators looking for a surge in visitors from China over the Lunar New Year are likely to be a little disappointed with results, an industry leader warns.

Angela Blair, international general manager of Tourism New Zealand, said while monthly arrivals from China typically peaked during Lunar New Year, the volume of Chinese visitors was unlikely to exceed pre-Covid levels.

"Current arrival data for the year ending October 2024 shows that Chinese visitor numbers are at 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels," Blair said.

"We would probably see an increase over the Lunar New Year, but that may not be an increase back to 2019 levels."

Before Covid emerged at the end of 2019, China was New Zealand's second-largest tourism market behind Australia.

In 2019, more than 409,000 Chinese visitors contributed more than $1.7 billion to New Zealand's economy.

However, tourism numbers dried up completely as nations around the world closed their borders in a bid to keep the virus at bay.

Since reopening New Zealand's borders in July 2022, Chinese tourist numbers have slowly rebounded.

Latest Stats NZ data shows that 37,900 visitors arrived from China in February 2024, an increase of 33,700 year on year.

The figure marks the highest monthly total since January 2020, when 50,300 arrivals were recorded shortly before the implementation of global pandemic-related travel restrictions.

With China celebrating the Lunar New Year on 29 January this year, tourism operators in New Zealand were hoping for a shot in the arm as thousands of travellers were expected to head overseas.

Several domestic tourism businesses have reported a surge in bookings.

Sean Marsh, general manager of sales and marketing at Te Puia | New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, said there had been a notable increase in bookings over the Lunar New Year holiday period.

"Even at this early stage, we have seen a significant surge in bookings for Chinese New Year," Marsh said.

"Off a very small base for 2023, the markets of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan started to consolidate and build momentum in 2024, with very positive growth in guest arrivals and visitor spend per person," he said.

"I expect this momentum to continue to build as new travel patterns emerge in 2025."

Marsh said Chinese tourists were embracing new travel trends, preferring smaller groups with families and couples while also showing a keen interest in cultural experiences.

"Chinese guests love learning about Māori culture, engaging with our guides and enjoying our hāngi buffet lunch and dinner," he said.

Richard Crouch, sales manager at Skyline Queenstown, expected a noticeable uptick in visitor numbers from China in February.

"The China visitation stats were very low previously, but we saw a huge increase in demand in February 2024, with 12,500 visitors - predominantly for Gondola and Dining," Crouch said.

"We anticipate visitor numbers this February to be on par with last year, possibly rising by 5-10 percent."

Crouch said the Lunar New Year had become a major business opportunity for New Zealand's tourism sector, particularly in Queenstown.

"The number of tourists from China is increasing steadily," he said.

"Last year, we were lucky because New Zealand was one of the first markets to reopen for China's outbound tourists. So, we got a lot of demand once that border opened for them.

"China is a very important market for us, no doubt."

While most Lunar New Year customers had been booked with tour groups, Crouch said there had also been a noticeable increase in the number of independent travellers and self-drive visitors.

Melissa Ellison, Booking.com's area manager for New Zealand, noted that Lunar New Year had become an increasingly popular period for travellers in Asia to visit the South Pacific.

According to Booking.com's search data from China for check-ins between 27 January 27 and 9 February, the South Island remained a top destination for Chinese tourists.

The data revealed that Queenstown, Auckland, Lake Tekapo, Christchurch, Wānaka, Te Anau, Dunedin, Twizel, Rotorua and Mount Cook Village ranked as the top 10 most-searched destinations for Chinese visitors.

 

"The South Island is very popular with Chinese tourists," Ellison said. "If we look at the top 25 search destinations for Chinese New Year, only six are on the North Island."

She noted the growing popularity of Twizel and Oamaru with Chinese visitors.

"We see destinations such as Twizel making the top 10 because it's popular for activities such as stargazing, which is one of our travel predictions of 2025," Ellison said.

"One of the other destinations I would call out is Oamaru, which is growing in popularity," she said.

"This is due to its beautiful heritage architecture and access to natural beauties and habitats, including the home of the blue penguin colony."
Ellison noted that culturally immersive experiences were increasingly popular with Chinese tourists.

"Our recent intergenerational travel study in Asia-Pacific highlighted that 32 percent of China travellers - the highest percentage in the region - are more drawn to culturally immersive travel, including the wealth of Māori experiences to discover in New Zealand," she said.

Blair noted that airline capacity between China and New Zealand had grown significantly in recent months.

"What we've seen is that airline capacity for January is up 7 percent compared to the (same) period last year," she said. "It indicates a potential positive trend and signals good bookings."

An Auckland Airport spokesperson said the hub's seat capacity to China has now surpassed pre-COVID levels, with six airlines operating between the two countries, offering a total of 46 flights every week.

Christchurch Airport also reported an increase in airline volume this summer.

China Southern Airlines operated daily flights between Guangzhou and Christchurch, while Cathay Pacific offered four weekly services from Hong Kong.

Overall, seat capacity has risen by 45 percent.