A record number of visitors from China helped boost the number of tourists to New Zealand by 3 per cent in November.
Last month 226,500 visitors came to New Zealand for a short period, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday. The numbers were up 6600 on the same month a year ago, but 3400 below the record for November in 2006.
A fall in the number of visitors from Britain and continental Europe was offset by more tourists from China (up 34.5 per cent to 14,875).
The Chinese market, boosted by growing trade with …

China has started a new route between Auckland and Guangzhou, thus boosting the tourism ties between the two countries. China Southern Airlines is the first airline to take this initiative and will be running three flights via Melbourne each week carrying 88,000 extra seats every year than they are available as of now.
Simon Moutter, who is the chief executive at Auckland airport, believes that it will be giving a boost of extra $50 million. They are looking forward to tourism from China and other Asian countries as it will be …

THE number of Chinese visiting the Far North has almost doubled in a year, while the Japanese are almost back to pre global financial crisis levels, the latest data reveals.
The International Visitor Survey for the year ended September 2010 shows Chinese holiday makers are up by 81 per cent to 58,000 while the Japanese have almost topped 100,000 (98,000 and -1 per cent).
Overall, international holidaymakers to the region have grown by 1 per cent to total 612,000, up 6000 on 2009.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive officer Rob Giason said …

Only a few weeks after finalizing its Approved Destination Status (ADS), Canada has already ranked the third most popular tourist destination among Chinese looking to travel abroad, according to a survey released Monday.
In a telephone poll of 1,080 people living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the “Research Report on China’s Outbound Tourism Market” found Australia the most desired destination of prospective Chinese travelers, followed by Singapore and Canada.
The report was conducted jointly by the Vancouver-based SUCCESS Foundation, EMR International and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,
Japan ranked fourth, just ahead …

The Visa and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010 has found mainland Chinese travelers plan to travel most out of all Greater China travelers.
The Survey, which was conducted in May 2010 and interviewed 1,571 people in the Greater China region, found that on average, mainland Chinese travelers are planning for 7.4 business and leisure trips in the next two years, compared with the 5.6 and 4.5 trips anticipated by Hong Kong and Taiwanese travelers.
The results also show that Greater China travelers are less affected by …

China is New Zealand’s fourth-largest tourism market, with more than 100,000 visitors for the year to April 30.
Tourism operators offering shoddy New Zealand tours for Chinese visitors are the target of a revised code of conduct aimed at cleaning up the industry.
Tourism New Zealand introduced a code of conduct in November 2007 aimed at improving the quality of tours for Chinese visitors, one of New Zealand’s fastest growing tourist markets.
Two buses involved in tours around the Queenstown-Milford Sound area were deemed “not fit for service”, after inspections by the Transport …