What’s not to love about New Zealand if you’re Chinese? The air is clean, the crowds are sparse and the government is free.
The latest New Zealand data showed visitors from China up 78.4%. I believe the influx of Chinese money is a big part of runaway New Zealand house price rises. Other countries are able to easily absorb the inflows but New Zealand’s economy is tiny.
Interestingly, New Zealand has changed its Chinese visa programs to now require group tours. The official spin is that group tours will give the tourists ‘a better quality experience’ but I doubt that’s the reason. Could it be that New Zealand believes it’s harder for someone on a group tour to visit and buy real estate?
Then again, New Zealand hasn’t taken other measures to discourage Chinese real estate investment so maybe there is something else to it.
