The Government has placed temporary entry restrictions into New Zealand on all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China to assist with the containment, while the Chinese Government has imposed a temporary ban on tour groups travelling overseas and the booking of flights and hotels abroad to try to stem the spread.
Experience Mid Canterbury general manager Bruce Moffat said arrivals from China had dropped nationally by 10.5 per cent over the last year.
The recent coronavirus outbreak had been picked up early and all the signs were it was being managed well.
He hoped its impact would not be as big as the SARS virus a number of years ago, which had affected tourism in a big way and for many months.
Mr Moffat said the decline in the Chinese tourism market in Mid Canterbury had been balanced out by a sizeable increase in visitor numbers from the USA in recent months.
While Chinese spend for the period March to October 2019 was $4million, and had tracked between $4m and $5 for a few years, the US spend here was now $5m, up from $3m not too long ago.
It would likely be boosted further by thrice weekly American Airlines flights coming into Christchurch from October, he said.
Mid Canterbury’s annual return from tourism, as measured by the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, is $186m.
Domestic tourism is the biggest revenue earner, but is down $2m, year on year.
The second biggest earner is ‘"The Rest of Asia", which includes Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, which brings in $22m, followed by Australia with $12m.
Mr Moffat is now in Australia to promote the district at trade shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Each event draws 17,000-20,000 people and Experience Mid Canterbury expects to have between 300 and 500 face to face promotions with consumers at each of them.
