ADS Registered Tour Operator Profile

• Why do Tour Operators target the Chinese Visitor Market?

In this section of data analysis, interview data will specifically study the general profile of the tour operators (see Appendix G), and identify the primary characteristics of their Chinese visitors. With reference to the tour operator profile matrix, a large number of the tour operators specifically target the Chinese visitor market because they believed that their experience with the market and the cultural background make the Chinese visitor market less problematic to target.

However, Operator B and Operator D demonstrated that their organizations offer tours in other destinations. These two operators were also the only operators interviewed that stated that they do not specifically target the Chinese international visitor market.

Operator B stated that their organization does not target the Chinese market in particular because they have previously attempted to; however, the market became problematic to target as the Chinese market tended to focus on shopping tours, therefore making the visitor market very price competitive.

“We wanted to target China, but it’s very difficult because of the shopping group and we don’t do any shopping group, so it’s not competitive compared with the other shopping group agents…” (Operator B)

Whereas, Operator D described their organizations encounter with the Chinese visitor market and the difficulty the tour operator faced when attempting to target the market.

Operator D conveyed that their organization prided themselves in the quality of their tour products, and the level of experience the visitors gained from the participation of their tours. However, with budget Chinese visitor tours and the escalating intensity of

undercutting shopping tours, the organization turns down the exclusive focus on targeting Chinese visitors.

“We are very experienced in the rest of South East Asia, and China is a growing market… we targeted them, but because of so much competition, and everybody’s undercutting then there’s no profit in it... Because we pride ourselves as a company that gives quality service and we like that everyone that comes to book with us has a good experience. So we stay out of all those budget tours and undercutting shopping tours… we’re trying to go back to see how the market is, and to test it… we find that I think there’s some room for us to go in and target the high end incentive group and the leisure group.” (Operator D)

Out of the seven tour operators there were three tour operators (Operator C, Operator E, and Operator G) that articulated the Chinese visitor market as their main visitor market targeted. However, Operator B was one particular interviewee that expressed that their company’s primary visitor market was not China, reporting that the Japanese visitor market comprises of 99% of their customer base.

Demonstrated in the interviews was the fact that the majority of the tour operators offered tours to Australia and New Zealand. From the tour operators that expressed they offer their Chinese visitors Australian and New Zealand tours, the greater part of the tour operators state that approximately 90% of their Chinese visitors travel to Australia, with just 10% visiting New Zealand. Operator F expands on this discussion by stating tours that combine a visit to both Australia and New Zealand will take about 10 days;

however, they will spend almost a week in Australia, leaving only 3 days in New Zealand. Operator G continues the assertion by stating possible reasons for New Zealand having only a limited number of tour groups from China; there are very few tour groups from China that solely visit New Zealand. Operator G specifically illustrated that their organization only received 2-3 tours every month that come explicitly to New Zealand, and was not an ‘add-on’ to an Australian tour.

“…the first reason is because if 100 tours go overseas, like come to the South Pacific and only 10 tours will be Australia and New Zealand, and probably 1 or 2 tours will be pure New Zealand tour. The reason is the air fare because the… if you fly from China to Australia, there are quite a few airlines and it’s really, really low fares and New Zealand can’t take the competition. There’s no competing price. The second one is Australia is more attractive than New Zealand for the Chinese. They’ve got a big country… and also for their tour fees it’s a little bit lower than New Zealand.” (Operator G)

In addition, all tour operators undertake ADS tours due to New Zealand Government requirements regarding Chinese visitors needing an ADS visa, and because ADS visas are processed within 10 days, rather than a month for a regular visitor visa (Cropp, 2008).

• What types of Chinese Visitors do the Tour Operators receive?

The majority of tour operators conveyed that their Chinese visitor customer base was largely leisure travellers. Alternatively, Operator E and Operator F articulated that most of their Chinese visitors were government employees. With Operator B and Operator D pointing out that they also undertake a number of business/incentive based tours.

However, the other interviewed operators said their business visitors in comparison to holiday visitors are quite low, with Operator C expressing that holiday visitors comprise of 90% of their Chinese market.

Conversely, Operator F and Operator G were the only operators that expressed their organizations having an FIT customer base; yet, this market is still a small group. With regards to a statement made by Operator F concerning FIT visitors, it is clear that the operator believes that the number of Chinese FIT has not as yet increased or matured as fast, or as steadily as other visitor markets to New Zealand, conveying that a possible reason for this could be related to the overall cost of independent travel, and other issues such as culture and language.

Tourism New Zealand has now signed an agreement with seven travel agents in Beijing and Shanghai to promote packages to New Zealand for FIT, and as part of this arrangement Immigration New Zealand has committed to turnover the processing of individual independent travel visas more rapidly (Cropp, 2008). However, Operator G portrayed the difficulty in gaining an independent visa to New Zealand, and the various criteria involved in the process. Operator G also illustrated the length of time it takes for the Chinese visitors to acquire a visa, with and without ADS approval, demonstrating that with an ADS visa it takes less time to process and gain approval. On the other hand, this exhibits the complexity in maturing the Chinese visitor market from tour groups to FITs.

“Not many FIT because it’s very hard for them to get a visa in China. Might take about 10-15 days to process but you have to prepare everything like your bank statement and your police certificate, everything and you submit into the embassy and it takes about 10-15 days and for ADS only 3 days.”

(Operator G)