PM Jacinda Ardern says the new data of the China-New Zealand Year of Tourism is March 29

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during her post-Cabinet press conference, Parliament, New Zealand Herald Photograph by Mark Mitchell

The China-New Zealand Year of Tourism launch will go ahead later this month, after its deferral in February launched a wave of speculation about the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

Speaking at her post-Cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the event would take place on March 29 at Te Papa, in Wellington.

"It will form part of a visit to New Zealand by a delegation from China to be led by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr Luo Shugang."

Last month, The Herald revealed the event had been postponed by the Chinese.

Richard Davies, manager of tourism policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said at the time: "China has advised that this event has had to be postponed due to changes of schedule on the Chinese side."

Ardern said it was a "scheduling issue" and warned not to read into the event's delay.

She doubled down on that yesterday afternoon and said nothing should be read into the fact the event was postponed in the first place.

"Year of Tourism events have been continuing and going well – this is an opportunity for New Zealand to promote a wider range of regions."

She said work had been underway in Rotorua and Hawke's Bay in training tourism operators to "increase the diverse range of locations that tourists from China travel to".

She said she was looking forward to a "very successful year".

The New Zealand China Council Executive Director Stephen Jacobi said he was very pleased to see the event's date had been set.

"I think it shows business as usual with China," he said.

Although there have been some decisions that the Government had made that China did not like – such as the decision to block Huawei from helping to build New Zealand's 5G network – he warned against reading too much into the deferral.

He said New Zealand and China's relationship was not in trouble.

"New Zealand and China, while close friends are different countries and there would always be difficulties and disappointments from time to time."

He said it would be better to focus on the things the two countries could do together.

Meanwhile, Ardern has not yet confirmed when she would be travelling to Beijing and said as soon as she had information on that, she would make that public.

"Ultimately, the invitation was extended some time ago and we have been working on both sides to find a mutually convenient time for the visit."