Why Chinese Travelers Are Australia & New Zealand's Biggest Untapped Growth Market
The numbers every restaurateur and hotelier should know
While many Western markets have settled into "post-pandemic normal," Chinese outbound travel has roared back — and Australia and New Zealand are among its favorite long-haul destinations.
China recorded 167.92 million outbound trips in 2025 (National Bureau of Statistics of China) — effectively matching pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Australia welcomed 962,000 visitors from China in the 12 months to July 2025, up more than 16% year-on-year (Australian Bureau of Statistics). Industry reports put the 2025 calendar figure at around 1.05 million, up 38% year-on-year.
New Zealand recorded nearly 250,000 Chinese arrivals in the year ending July 2025 — and New Zealand's Tourism Minister Louise Upston has said that over 60 million Chinese travelers are actively considering a visit to New Zealand.
Chinese visitors are among the highest-spending tourists in both countries: roughly AUD 7,200 per trip in Australia and NZD 5,900 per trip in New Zealand — well above the average international visitor.
Both governments are betting on this market. Tourism Australia launched the second chapter of its "Come and Say G'day" campaign in China; Tourism New Zealand relaunched its Chinese-language WeChat mini-program and led a trade mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. From November 2025, Chinese nationals transiting via Australia can enter New Zealand more easily under a streamlined visa arrangement.
The traveler has changed — and that changes everything
Here's what most ANZ operators miss: the type of Chinese visitor arriving today is fundamentally different from 2019.
Free independent travelers (FIT) now make up over 65% of Chinese visits to Australia and New Zealand, up from roughly 48% in 2019. These are not tour-bus groups herded into set lunch stops. They are individual travelers who plan their own itineraries — and they decide where to eat, drink and stay using Chinese apps you've probably never opened.
Surveys of Chinese travelers planning ANZ trips show:
67% cite nature and wildlife as their primary draw
52% cite food as a key motivator
41% come for iconic city experiences
That second number should stop every restaurant owner mid-scroll. Half of your future Chinese guests are choosing you — or your competitor — based on content they read on Chinese platforms, weeks before they board the plane.
The visibility gap is the opportunity
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Tourism Australia and Tourism New Zealand are spending millions marketing your countries on Chinese platforms. But the individual businesses — the restaurants, the boutique hotels, the wineries, the tour operators — are largely invisible there.
Search your own business on Xiaohongshu (China's Instagram-meets-Pinterest, with over 400 million monthly users) or Dianping (China's Yelp-plus-booking-platform, with 900 million users). If a traveler can't find you there, you don't exist in their itinerary. If your reviews are stale, wrong, or translated badly by machine, they'll book somewhere that took the market seriously.
A restaurant in Dubai that made Dianping's 2025 "Must-Eat List" reported Chinese guests growing to 15% of its covers within a year. A ramen shop in Fukuoka saw Chinese customer numbers jump nearly 40% after making the same list. Sydney was added to the Must-Eat List for the first time in 2025 — meaning Chinese travelers are now actively browsing ranked lists of Sydney restaurants before they land.
The question is not whether Chinese travelers will come to your city. They're already coming, in growing numbers, with money to spend and a phone full of Chinese apps.
The only question is: when they search, will they find you?
BridgeReach helps ANZ restaurants, hotels and tourism brands build their presence on Xiaohongshu, Dianping, Meituan and Ctrip — and convert Chinese travelers into real foot traffic.
Tell us about your business, and we'll show you exactly where Chinese travelers can (and can't) find you today — free of charge.
Sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China (2026 Statistical Communiqué); Australian Bureau of Statistics; China Daily (Oct 2025); Xiaohongshu Commercial data (2025); Meituan-Dianping "Must-Eat List" overseas launch (Nov 2025).
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