The $1 billion cost of a whole year without Chinese visitors
In 2000 New Zealand hosted 30,000 visitors from China, and that had increased more than tenfold by the time the pandemic saw them shut out a year ago. Hamiltonian Sherry Zhen has switched from guiding Chinese visitors to selling houses, closing her small tourism business for the foreseeable future. February 3 marks the first anniversary of New Zealand closing its borders to tourists from China, and the days of hosting groups of Chinese Amway staff or small private tours of a Cambridge Alpaca farm are long gone for Zhen, who got her real estate licence in July. Pre-pandemic, China was our se...
Source: stuff.co.nz