The continued growth of China, New Zealand's fourth largest
visitor market, means it is more important than ever to enhance the
New Zealand holiday experience for Chinese visitors, says Tourism
New Zealand.
Acting General Manager Asia, Kate Necklen, says; "As with all
markets, there are certain things we can do to help ensure visitors
find it easy to plan and book their holidays as well as have an
outstanding experience once they are here. In China, this applies
to two very different markets - that of group tours and the
increasing number of FIT (Free and Independent Traveler)
visitors."
Ensuring New Zealand delivers a high quality holiday experiences
is a key focus.
"With good air connections to the region, improvements to the
immigration process and strong engagement with trade in-market, we
are in a really good position to focus on developing our product
offering to better meet the needs of these market segments in
China. These include those actively looking to book a holiday for
an adventure and spend more time exploring New Zealand by
themselves.
"Our marketing activity targets these segments and communicates
the range of activities and experiences New Zealand can offer to
meet their needs."
A particular area of attention has also been to improve the visa
application and approval process. Tourism New Zealand worked
alongside Immigration New Zealand in China to make the process
quicker and smoother, aiming to reduce the length of time of
individual applications to a similar timeframe as group bookings -
which are typically quicker due to them being supported by Approved
Destination Status (ADS) agents.
"The introduction of visitor acceptance centres, where an
outsource company receive and check information to ensure complete
applications are supplied to Immigration New Zealand, has made a
significant impact on streamlining the process. Opening in August
2011, the centres were well timed to help over the busy booking
period for the Chinese New Year."
Tourism New Zealand is now working with Immigration New Zealand
to increase the numbers of ADS agents, who can then support all
travelers, both group bookings and FIT, to get visas processed.
For more information on the China market and our latest activity
see the Market & Stats section on tourismnewzeland.com