New Zealand welcomes daily flights from China

The New Zealand government Friday welcomed news that China Southern Airlines was upping its New Zealand service from three times a week to daily flights between Auckland and Guangzhou from Nov. 1. China Southern Airlines New Zealand general manager Henry Dai said Friday the airline was pleased with the success of its New Zealand service and excited about the potential for growing the travel and trade partnership between China and New Zealand. "This new daily service will add another 90,000 seats per year, and reflects the high market demand we have already experienced and the confidence we have in the future," said Dai. The daily flights would be serviced by brand new aircraft that would come into use from Sept. 1. New Zealand's tourism sector and economy would get a significant boost with China Southern's move to daily flights, said Associate Tourism Minister Jonathan Coleman. "China is one of New Zealand's fastest growing visitor markets with growth of 22 percent for the year to July 2011. It's now our fourth largest inbound tourist market with 133,000 visitors in the past year and the potential for growth is massive," he said. The number of Chinese traveling abroad annually was expected to rise from 50 million to 100 million over the next five years. "By gaining just a small percentage of that growth, over the coming years New Zealand can increase arrival numbers and more air links will play a key role in expanding the market," said Coleman. Chinese visitors injected 410 million NZ dollars (337.1 U.S. dollars) into New Zealand's economy in the 12 months to June. "Immigration New Zealand is now issuing multiple entry visas for Chinese citizens as standard practice. Previously such visas were the exception rather than the rule. This allows holders to enter New Zealand as many times as they like for a maximum stay of six months in total," Coleman said. However, Chinese mainland travelers to New Zealand were last week told they would face any extra 220-yuan (34.43 U.S. dollars) "delivery fee" for the visa application service, which was being handled by Swiss firm VFS. Travelers from Hong Kong would have to pay an extra 264 HK dollars (33.84 U.S. dollars) for the fee. Auckland Airport general manager Glenn Wedlock said the expanded China Southern services should provide an estimated boost of 100 million NZ dollars to the New Zealand economy. "The new China Southern Airlines services arrive just in time for our high season and after the Rugby World Cup will help us continue to drive the 20-percent plus growth we have been seeing in this market," said Wedlock. "The increase in services from China Southern Airlines, along with the expanded Air New Zealand services from December, will open up more of China to New Zealand tourism and trade than ever before, and should help push China ahead of the United States as our third largest tourism market in the very near future," he said. "Chinese visitors are also high-value, spending on average around 300 NZ dollars per night, more than European, North American and other Asian tourists." Reports indicated the Chinese mainland had more than 950,000 millionaires "so there is a fantastic opportunity to build tourism and trade values to New Zealand by targeting this market," said Wedlock.