NZ moving tourism promotion office to China

The tourism promotion operations here, which cover the Greater China market, will be moved to Shanghai and become part of the representative office to be headquartered in the largest commercial city in China to coordinate overall regional promotion activities.

The New Zealand Tourism Board opened the Taiwan office 15 years ago to provide better service to the growing number of tourists and immigrants from Taiwan.

The number of people visiting or settling in New Zealand had enjoyed an annual growth rate of 20 to 30 percent to peak at 65,000 in 1996. But the numbers continued to decline in recent years, dropping to 30,000 in 2005, further down to 27,000 in 2006, and 25,000 in 2007.

The figure was estimated to slip further to around 20,000 in 2008, mainly due to decreased spending on overseas travel by residents in Taiwan, and the drastic rises in fuel costs and airplane ticket prices.

EVA Airways, currently the only Taiwan-based air carrier to provide direct flights to Auckland, has decided to suspend the service on the route on Sept. 1 because of soaring costs and reduced passengers.

The closure of the New Zealand tourism promotion office follows the Netherlands suspending its tourism office in Taiwan in June this year.

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