Chinese visitors take advantage of a pilot scheme that exempted them from visa requirements if they were travelling from Australia
2-MIN READ2-MINBloombergPublished: 3:03pm, 25 Jun 2026New Zealand has seen a surge in Chinese tourists since it began testing an easier pathway for visitors via Australia.The government began a 12-month trial in November that exempted Chinese and Pacific people from visa requirements if they were travelling from Australia. Officials estimated that after six months the new option has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in Chinese visitor arrivals, Tourism Minister Louise Upston said on Thursday in Wellington.Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner after dairy, and is a major cog in the government’s economic growth strategy at a time when domestic spending and investment are suppressed by high fuel costs and uncertainty.
China was the nation’s second-largest source of tourists before the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has yet to return to those levels.
Upston said the Chinese and Pacific travellers taking advantage of the trial delivered an estimated NZ$215 million (US$121 million) boost to the economy so far.
The government said 90,111 electronic travel authorities had been issued to Chinese nationals as at May 31, of which 79,078 had been used to travel.
