New Zealand struggling with rising tide of Chinese visitors
Sunday, 28 Sep, 2015
0
It is not every day a top national tourism official calls for a slowdown in tourism.
That is exactly what Tourism New Zealand chief Kevin Bowler appears to have done, saying Chinese visitor numbers are ‘growing faster than we really want.’
Speaking to The Herald newspaper, Bowler said infrastructure was struggling to keep up with the increasing numbers of Chinese tourists.
They are currently growing at over 30% per annum and you will remember that last summer we had some really difficult challenges accommodating all of the visitors over the peak period," Bowler said.
"If we keep growing at that rate we’re going to have some real capacity problems, particularly over the peak season … hotels just aren’t being built fast enough."
Bowler said Tourism NZ is focused on promoting the quieter autumn and spring seasons and to redistribute tourism to other parts of the country.
"It’s possibly less about slowing growth down and more about redistributing visitors into shoulder seasons and also trying to focus on longer-staying visitors who are going to spread out a lot more around the country," he said.
"The current pattern is concentrating a lot of visitors into Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown.
Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said the airline is also trying to promote more tourism during the shoulder season.
"What we don’t want over the next five to 10 years is to have a great economic win but a social and an environmental negative," he said. "We have this massive peak over the summer period – that creates more pressure in the system. We want to distil that out over the full-year," Luxon said.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
TAP Air Portugal to operate 29 flights due to strike on December 11
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airbnb eyes a loyalty program but details remain under wraps
Air Mauritius reduces frequencies to Europe and Asia for the holiday season