Increased New Zealand visa fee will affect tourism-Report

New Zealand is, no longer, going to remain a preferred destination for travelling abroad for cost-conscious travelers from China, thanks to the red tape making visit to New Zealand highly expensive for Chinese, a recent report in a New Zealand daily reveals.

Chinese to opt for other foreign destinations than New Zealand—The report clarifies that in the wake of higher New Zealand visa fee announced by Immigration New Zealand following a recent contract with VFS Global Services, several Chinese travel agents are recommending other global destinations for visiting.

New Zealand immigration has hired the services of this multinational firm for the purposes of visa collection.

This means an extra New Zealand visa fee of 33 US dollars (equivalent to 40 NZ dollars) for each applicant of New Zealand visa.

Higher New Zealand visa fee only for Chinese--Although, there is no change in the New Zealand visa fee, however, there has been two-fold increase in the New Zealand visa application fee for travelers hailing from China. The new fee for New Zealand visa applicants from China means an addition of $34.43(220 yuan) to the current cost of 240 yuan for New Zealand visa application, the report states.

Visitors from Hong Kong will have to shell out an additional amount of 246 Hong Kong dollars(equivalent to $31.54) as facilitation fee apart from the New Zealand visa application fee with effect from September this year. So, the natural option for Chinese travelers wanting to visit foreign destinations will be Europe rather than New Zealand, states a Chinese travel agent Xiaoli Fang.

Increase in New Zealand visa fee for Chinese comes at a time when China is becoming a major source of visitors to New Zealand while foreigners from nations like Japan, US, UK and South Korea are shrinking.

No effect on Chinese visitors to New Zealand—Immigration New Zealand—Meanwhile, head of Immigration New Zealand feels the new increased New Zealand visa fee for Chinese travelers will not have any effect on Chinese visitors to New Zealand.

Even chief executive of Tourism New Zealand, Kevin Bowler also shares the same views that the number of Chinese visitors choosing New Zealand will increase further keeping in view recent improvisations introduced by Immigration New Zealand in the application process of Chinese travel visas.