Luxury travel packages to draw Chinese visitor market
AUCKLAND: Wealthy Chinese families will be charged up to $25,000 a day for luxury travel packages featuring chauffeured limousines, private vineyard and fishing tours and exclusive helicopter transfers to lavish New Zealand venues.
The highend itineraries will include visits to ‘‘the country’s most exclusive lunch and accommodation venues which most locals can only dream of visiting,’’ NZ Chinese Travel and Tourism Association chairman and tour operator Simon Cheung said yesterday.
The tours aimed to help push New Zealand as a premier destination to the Chinese during the New ZealandChina Year of Tourism 2019, which was first announced during an official visit from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2017.
A fall in the New Zealand dollar against the Chinese yuan has also boosted spending by cashedup Chinese tourists.
The spend is up 14% to more than $1.6 billion in the past year.
Mr Cheung said the weaker New Zealand dollar — which fell 9% against the yuan last quarter — was also making more Chinese see New Zealand as a ‘‘value for money’’ destination.
‘‘We need to move away from the cheap shopping tours that currently dominate the inbound Chinese market, because these really benefit noone except maybe the airlines,’’ Mr Cheung said.
‘‘Tourism in China is huge. The market is booming, and the lower dollar means we can do more to make New Zealand a special place for luxury Chinese travellers.’’
One of the exclusive accommodation venues being offered to VIP Chinese travellers is the Te Hihi Estate in Karaka, previously owned by richlister Eric Watson.
Guests will get exclusive use of the sixbedroom villa, and 37ha of landscaped grounds that include a ninehole golf course, swimming pool, outdoor spa and access to a resident alpaca herd.
Mr Cheung said the luxury itineraries, which could set wellheeled foreign families back up to $25,000 a day, were now being finalised, and would be ready in time for the 2019 year of tourism.
The association, which represents more than 200 Chinese operators and providers in New Zealand , would also be starting a licensing regime next month in a bid to weed out rogue operators.
This year, New Zealand is the third most popular holiday destination for Chinese New Year holidays in February, behind Thailand and Australia, according to the Huron Chinese Luxury Traveller 2018 report.
About 453,000 Chinese visited New Zealand in the past 12 months, and this is forecasted to increase to 800,000 by 2024.
The number of visitors arriving direct from China is also up 13% due to an increase in direct flights, and those arriving via Australia fell 3%.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is forecasting China will overtake Australia by spend, reaching just over $3 billion annually by 2024. — NZME