Air New Zealand Promoting Free Connecting Flights to Wellington for Chinese Visitors

Air New Zealand has launched a promotion offering connecting domestic flights to Wellington to visitors from China as a means of spreading the economic benefits of the Chinese outbound market beyond the country’s largest city Auckland.

The national carrier will offer 1000 free connections to the country’s capital for passengers arriving from both Shanghai – which has a daily direct connection with Auckland – and Hong Kong.

The scheme will be accompanied by a number of programmes orchestrated by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency, which will draw in numerous local tourism providers, including hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions.

Discussing the launch of the campaign, Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon explained: “Our 72 hours in Wellington campaign is all about making Wellington a ‘must-see’ destination for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese visitors to New Zealand every year.”

“China is New Zealand’s second-largest international travel market with expenditure by Chinese visitors to Wellington up 17 percent in the year to June to an estimated NZD 52 million (ca. USD 38 million), so it’s important we continue to build on the work we’ve been doing and help visitors discover Wellington and promote what there is to see and do in the capital.”

2016 saw around 409,000 Chinese arrivals to New Zealand, establishing China as the country’s second largest international tourism market after Australia. Nevertheless, with the first half of 2017’s official Chinese arrival figure of 214,413 being 4.9 percent lower than 2016’s equivalent figure, New Zealand is looking to maximise its tourism offerings for more experienced individual travellers.

Acknowledging the need to provide more for the growing number of independent Chinese travellers, David Perks, general manager of venues, marketing and destination at Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency explained that the Wellington promotion would help attract these higher spending market segments.

“Whilst New Zealand gets a large number of Chinese tourists, Wellington is under represented. However, we recognise that Chinese visitor profiles are evolving beyond package tours to include more high-end independent travellers. The 72 hours in Wellington campaign targets those travellers.”

With direct flights from China only landing in Auckland and Christchurch, Air Zealand’s Wellington scheme will help encourage much-needed dispersal of Chinese visitors to New Zealand, not only limiting crowding in popular tourist sites, but also allowing other parts of the country to share in the lucrative Chinese outbound market.

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute provides expert insights into the worldwide developments of China’s outbound tourism market. As Chinese outbound tourists are travelling to a large range of destinations, our publications cover a number of regions, providing detailed insights and analysing visitor behaviour.

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Source: Stuff, COTRI DATA

Image: Flickr