Source: NZ Herald
"Chinese visitor numbers continue to slide and are expected to drop even more sharply in the coming months with the recent travel restrictions.
According to new Statistics NZ figures released today, visitor arrivals from China fell 9 per cent to 407,100 in the December 2019 year compared with the December 2018 year.
Tourist numbers from China have been falling since early last year.
"Recent travel restrictions due to the novel coronavirus are expected to further affect the number of visitor arrivals from China, at least in the short term," said population indicators manager Tehseen Islam.
...New Zealand Chinese Travel and Tourism Association chair Simon Cheung said the fall in numbers did not come as a surprise but spelled bad news for tourism operators here.
However despite the fall, China remained New Zealand's second largest visitor market.
While 407,100 visitors arrived from China in 2019, New Zealand residents also took 141,600 trips to China over the same period."
Simon Says:
"My message to New Zealand tourism operators is Kia kaha (be strong). The light is darkest before the dawn. COVID-19 will not last forever. Millions of people have been in self-quarantine for weeks. Important to note that we can refer back to SARS for a benchmark on what to expect, understanding that not only will things return to normal, people who have lost their freedom temporarily will be more motivated to travel. At RCN, we know this as a fact, due to the results of our China Travel Survey."
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