China Southern was the first airline to fly a Dreamliner into New Zealand. Photo / Greg Bowker
China Southern was the first airline to fly a Dreamliner into New Zealand. Photo / Greg Bowker
The re-opening of China will be important for tourism and will help put a lid on airfare rises.
Although there are concerns about the potential for new strains of Covid-19 to spread around the world, the decision by China to roll back strict rules could send a wave of free-spendingChinese tourists to destinations including New Zealand for Lunar New Year, which begins on January 22 and usually is the country’s busiest travel season.
Pre-pandemic, China was New Zealand’s second biggest tourism market after Australia and spending by 407,000 Chinese visitors in 2019 hit $1.7 billion.
One travel operator specialising in the China market says there were already more inquiries from Chinese tour groups although it could take months for visitor numbers to start cranking up.
Throughout the pandemic, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern have maintained a reduced schedule between the two countries and are now operating up to three times a week between Auckland and Guangzhou and Shanghai. Air New Zealand is operating two passenger flights and four cargo-only flights a week.
Before Covid hit, the mainland Chinese airlines had about 10 per cent of the market to and from New Zealand and provided connections to other parts of Asia and Europe. Their presence helped push down prices, with return economy tickets to Amsterdam selling for less than $1000 at one stage.
General manager of China Travel Service, Lisa Li, Photo / Stephen Parker.
Auckland Airport’s general manager customer and aeronautical, Scott Tasker, said the Chinese carriers are not only important for bringing in tourists but also critical for the education market and providing business connections.
‘’China remains a really important market for New Zealand - it’s our number one trade partner so the air cargo links are important to the export of high-value food and other exports,’’ he said.
Speaking before the latest easing of restrictions, Tasker said it was unclear how quickly air capacity would return to pre-pandemic levels when there were multiple flights a day between the two countries during summer.
Lisa Li, managing director of China Travel Service in Auckland, said it was great news that the Chinese market would now rebuild.
‘’Even though the Chinese economic growth has been slowing, our target market sector is middle class with higher education, higher income and better savings which have kept in reasonably good shape,’’ she said.
Tourism NZ research in late 2019 showed there were nearly 36 million Chinese who had New Zealand as a preferred holiday destination.
Stats NZ figures show about 1000 visitors from China landing a week in early December, up sharply from three months earlier. Li said some groups have already made their travel plans for New Zealand.
‘’I would assume it would take a couple of months to see the visitors return.’’
Those who have valid multiple entry visas would return first but there were fears staff shortages would slow down processing time, putting New Zealand at a disadvantage to rival countries trying to attract tourists.
‘’ In terms of the recovery, our biggest concern is visa issuing problems,’’ she said.
