Tourists from China have been flooding into New Zealand and now a Shanghai-based property developer, Shanghai CRED Real Estate, has bought Peppers Carrington resort, an upmarket resort and plans a major upgrade to attract wealthy Chinese travellers to the South Pacific country stated a Reuters report.
Shanghai CRED Real Estate’s purchase of the 1,100 hectare Peppers Carrington resort – which includes a seaside golf course and vineyard – is the first significant Chinese investment in New Zealand’s tourism sector.
“Affluent Chinese tourists tend to use Chinese tourist agencies, which in turn prefer to recommend Chinese-owned resorts internationally,” Guo Gui, General Manager, Shanghai CRED Real Estate.
On the scenic Karikari Peninsula, the resort is about 270 km (167 miles) north of Auckland. China is the second-biggest source of visitors to New Zealand. More than 236,000 Chinese travellers visited the country from January to September 2013 – a 50 per cent jump from the previous year – and spent an estimated NZ USD 645 mn.
Visa rules for Chinese travellers were freed up in May and the government has said the number of Chinese tourists could reach 1 million by 2018. New Zealand was the first developed economy to sign a free trade deal with China, now its second-biggest trading partner. Outside the tourism sector, Chinese companies have been active investors in New Zealand.