Moneybags millennials from China
New Zealand stands to gain from a big increase in travel spending by Chinese millennials.
New Zealand ranked third equal with France in a list of the top 10 destinations Chinese travellers wanted to visit in the coming year according to a Hotels.com report.
A survey covering 3000 Chinese residents aged 18 to 58 who travelled overseas in the past 12 months found that the amount spent on travel increased 40 per cent overall.
But the biggest increase was in the post-1990s millennials who were spending more than a third of their income on overseas trips, doing four trips annually.
The report said the younger generation of Chinese want to travel further from home, stay away longer, and try new experiences.
They also spent more, with post-1980s travellers totting up an average of $511 a day on expenses.
Tour groups were out of favour, with 65 per cent of Chinese travellers preferring independent travel.
These findings reflect official New Zealand tourism statistics showing that the changing mix of Chinese tourists has dramatically increased their length of stay and expanded the number of regions they visit.
Tourism forecasts from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment said the number of younger and older visitors from China (those aged 25 to 34, and over 60) had increased significantly over the past decade, while those aged 35 to 55 had dropped markedly.
More than half of Chinese holidaymakers spent more than a week in New Zealand in 2017, versus just 10 per cent in 2008.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said younger Chinese visitors had helped push Chinese spending here to $1.5 billion last year.
‘‘The newly wealthy younger Chinese do have money to spend and they are wanting to travel independently. They’re a very attractive market and they are contributing to the length of stay steadily increasing over the last couple of years.’’
The fact that New Zealand ranked third equal with France was also heartening, he said.
‘‘The newly wealthy younger Chinese ...are wanting to travel independently.’’
TIA chief executive Chris Roberts