Rotorua in 'Golden Route'

Tourism Industry Association chief executive Chris Roberts

Short-stay Chinese visitors are spending up large in Rotorua with statistics showing they spent around $49 million in just one year and they're not slowing down.

And there's more good news for Rotorua tourism with the district making up part of what's been subbed the "Golden Route" with Chinese visitors tending to snub some of the country's biggest cities for the cultural hot-spot of Rotorua while also visiting Auckland and Queenstown.

The "Golden Route" was the term used by Tourism Industry Association chief executive Chris Roberts to describe the three destinations of Rotorua, Auckland and Queenstown.

Mr Roberts said the route was very popular with Chinese group visitors, "who typically have less than a week in New Zealand".

He said the number of independent Chinese travellers was growing "very strongly", however, they would be more likely to visit other regions.

Tourism spending estimates, sourced from the Regional Economic Activity Report, are presented by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

It shows Australian visitors leading tourism spending in almost every territorial authority in New Zealand, second only to Aucklanders visiting Rotorua.

In the year to March 2014, Aucklanders spent an estimated $60.4 million in Rotorua, Australians $60.2 million and Chinese visitors were fifth on the list with a spend of $49 million.

Destination Rotorua trade manager Patrick Dault said more Chinese were choosing to visit Rotorua because of the great range of activities and attractions, both new and well established.

Total Chinese arrivals to New Zealand for year ending September have grown a staggering 35.1 per cent to 327,904, with more than 75 per cent of these visiting for tourism purposes.

"As these numbers increase, visitation to Rotorua has continued to strengthen with growth in traditional group and independent travellers," Mr Dault said.

"The Chinese focus for Rotorua Lakes Council has been driven by our tourism industry partners. Some of our industry are recognised as pioneers in this market, having contributed substantially for decades to position Rotorua as a preferred destination."

He said three years ago Destination Rotorua partnered with industry and put in place a strategic plan that focused heavily on further developing the higher value China market, increasing the awareness, profile and desirability of the destination and bolstering Rotorua's brand awareness.

Part of this move was to hire a fulltime Asia Business Development manager who is responsible for not only offshore China development for Rotorua, but also growing the domestic Chinese market.

"We have also worked collaboratively with Tourism New Zealand which has been paying dividends, with a large increase in the number of high impact media who are requesting to film here.

"An example of this was Rotorua hosting the hugely successful Dad, Where Are We Going? Chinese reality series.

"This was viewed by a gigantic Chinese audience, successfully putting both Rotorua in the limelight for Chinese visitors, both international and domestic."

Top 10 visitors spend in Rotorua

* Auckland $60.4 million
* Australia $60.2 million
* Rest of Bay of Plenty $52.8 million
* Waikato $50.6 million
* China $49 million
* Europe (excluding UK and Germany) $27.7 million
* USA $24.1 million
* Asia (excluding China, South Korea and Japan) $19.9 million
* Wellington $19.5 million
* UK $18.9 million

Source: MBIE Regional Tourism Estimates for year ending March 2014