Chinese to overtake Aussies as NZ’s biggest spenders

Well, it looks like China has officially caught up to Aussies in terms of spending $$ in New Zealand, according to new reports.

Shared at TRENZ 2017 in Auckland, the new forecast predicts China will become the country’s largest tourism market by spend, reaching $4.3 billion annually by 2023.

The reports comes out of NZ’s Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) too, so you know it’s legit.

China’s visitor numbers to NZ are also expected to reach just under one million by the end of the forecast period.

China is expected to contribute to 37 per cent of the forecast international visitor growth from 2016 to 2023, and 51 per cent of the forecast total visitor spend growth.

But fear not, Australia – we will still (probably) be the larger source of visitor arrival to NZ, we just won’t spend as much. Can’t win ’em all.

Australia is New Zealand’s largest visitor market, and is forecast to remain so over the forecast period.

The MBIE predicts this market will contribute 1.8 million visitors to the country by 2023, up 25 per cent from 2016, although that doesn’t leave China too far behind with just under one million.

Currently, Aussies account for 25 per cent of all tourist spending in NZ, compared to China’s 16 per cent.

We’re a solid mix of holidaymakers and visitors of friends and family – we’re only three hours away after all!

Our total spend right now is just shy of $2.5 million, while the spend per day hovers around $190, which is set to drop to $179 per day by 2023.

The average amount of days we spend when we visit is also set to dip, but only from 10 currently, to nine by 2023. It’s tough competition though, when the Chinese currently spend an average of 18 days on any NZ visit, which will jump to 19 by 2023.

Their spend – currently $297 per day – is predicted to jump to $347.

New Zealand’s overall international visitor spend is forecasted in the MBIE report to skyrocket past the $15 billion mark annually by 2023, a massive 52 per cent up on its visitor spend in 2016.

“International visitor arrivals to New Zealand are forecast to reach 4.9 million a year by 2023, up 39 per cent from the 3.5 million visitors who came to our shores in 2016,” MBIE’s General Manager of Evidence, Monitoring and Governance, Michael Bird, said.

“The forecasts show that growth will be driven by Asian markets, particularly China, as well as established markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom.”

“Australia is New Zealand’s largest visitor market, and is forecast to remain so over the forecast period.”