Chinese investors will gather in New Zealand later this month to look at opportunities in the country's bourgeoning tourism industry, the China Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand (CCCNZ) announced Friday.
The inaugural New Zealand Tourism Investment Summit to be held the largest city of Auckland and the mountain resort of Queenstown from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 would have two main aims, said a statement from the CCCNZ, which is organizing the event.
The first was to explore how New Zealand businesses could gain a better understanding of the next era of discerning Chinese tourists and better target free independent travellers while ensuring the market grew in a way that was sustainable.
The second was to attract overseas investment to the tourism sector to help New Zealand infrastructure keep up with the increasing visitor numbers as flight capacity increased.
"The summit will examine how New Zealand companies can understand the evolving Chinese affluent tourist and target independent travellers," it said.
China was New Zealand's second largest visitor market and it had rapidly developed due to China's innovative mobile apps and payment market creating some of the world's largest and most advanced e-commerce and mobile payment companies.
"This new generation of Chinese tourists should be understood and treated differently from their predecessors," Dr. Song Rui, director of China's Tourism Research Center, said in the statement.
They were more sophisticated with an increased interest in unique travel experiences rather than joining tour groups that focused on shopping.
New Zealand saw a 60-percent year-on-year rise in Chinese tourists during China's week-long National Day holiday this month and numbers would rise again with more than 50 direct flights each week over the southern summer.
The group of prospective investors was expected to include representatives from theme park and hotel operator Songcheng Group Holding Co., private equity firm Zhejiang Silicon Paradise Asset Management Group, and Fosun International, which last year invested 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in Club Med and 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in a Canada-based Cirque du Soleil.
Chinese visitors to New Zealand hit a record 405,500 in the year ending September, up 77,600 year on year, according to official New Zealand figures out on Friday.
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