New Zealand aims at speedy visa delivery for growing Chinese tourists

Over 300,000 Chinese tourists flew over ten thousand kilometers to New Zealand last year with increasing number of younger visitors, staying longer and spending more.[Photo/Xinhua]

New Zealand government has been working on upgrading its system to speed up processing visa applications of Chinese tourists, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told a weekly briefing here.

Key said the two countries' tourism agencies have been working on some particular issues like speedy processing of visas on the request of the Chinese side.

"China is pursuing New Zealand fast pass of Visa. So we are working on upgrading our capacity of technology and speed of delivery of those visas," Key said Monday, adding that "China is now our second largest source of tourists and they are very important market."

"Also it has been true that we are working on flight agreement to bring more carriers to New Zealand," he said.

Three Chinese airlines are now operating direct flight from major Chinese cities as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to Auckland with their New Zealand counterpart Air NZ flying daily Auckland-Shanghai and Hong Kong flights.

The booming industry also attracted investment from China, according to the PM who also holds the portfolio of Tourism Minister. Park Hyatt last week launched its five star hotel project in Auckland along with Shanghai Pengxin Group's purchase of Hilton property in Queenstown.

"We certainly need more accommodations and hotels. The biggest concern is capacity, not getting enough tourists coming to New Zealand now," he said.

"There's a lot that we are doing together and there's more we can continue to do together," Key told the press, asserting that China will be the country's fastest growing market.

Over 300,000 Chinese tourists flew over ten thousand kilometers to New Zealand last year with increasing number of younger visitors, staying longer and spending more, according to New Zealand's tourism agency.