KEY POINTS:
Too few New Zealand tourism operators are tapping into the nearly 40 million Chinese who travel every year, says Tourism New Zealand.
Tourism NZ's regional manager for North Asia, Mark Frood, said many New Zealand tourism operators were waiting to see where the China market was headed.
"But we can't afford to wait," he said in the latest issue of its magazine, Tourism News.
"It is moving fast and if New Zealand is not in there, if we don't have a good, solid presence to help the Chinese understand what we are about as a destination, our ability to attract this market will become much more difficult."
Tourism New Zealand said New Zealand attracted only 122,000 of the 39.8 million Chinese who travelled every year.
They stayed in New Zealand an average of three days, spent a total of $337 million a year - an average of $3240 each - and most weresatisfied with their New Zealand holidays.
The magazine said many Chinese were ready and waiting to travel, and the disposable income in China was increasing in tandem with China's awareness of the world. China was New Zealand's fourth largest source of international visitors and by 2013 the number visiting New Zealand was expected to double to 260,000.
It said Chinese visitors had been "tainted" by short-length stays combined with a reputation for taking group tours which were low-price, low-quality and shopping focused.
The magazine said Chinese visitors were not as adventurous as Western visitors.
Hiking, rafting and skiing were challenging enough but parapenting and bungy jumping were seen as challenges that were outside their comfort zone.
- NZPA
