New Zealand is seeing a sharp rebound in Chinese tourists after launching a visa-waiver trial policy for visitors from China and the Pacific who arrive from Australia.

According to a Bloomberg report on Thursday, the New Zealand government began a 12-month trial in November 2025 that exempted Chinese and Pacific people from visa requirements if they were traveling from Australia. Officials estimated that the new visa policy has resulted in a 40-percent increase in Chinese visitor arrivals, the Bloomberg cited New Zealand Tourism Minister Louise Upston as saying.

Meanwhile, a recent analysis found that the 12-month trial had generated $215 million in returns in the past six months, according to a press release seen on the website of the New Zealand government on Thursday.

With more than 92,000 requests approved and 80,000 Chinese and Pacific travelers entering New Zealand through the new pathway, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the program had been "a runaway success," while Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said the trial was off to a flying start halfway through its term.

The surge highlights how the visa-waiver trial can quickly translate into stronger tourist demand, especially from a market that remains one of New Zealand's most important sources of international visitors.

Statistics New Zealand's most recent data shows total visitor arrivals for the month of April were up by 21,300 on the previous year. Chinese visitors made up more than half of that with a significant increase of 11,100 from April 2025.

"China is one of New Zealand's most important tourism markets, and more international visitors means more bookings in our restaurants, more people visiting our regions and attractions, more jobs being created across the country, and an overall stronger economy," Louise Upston said.

Wang Jiazheng, chief representative of the Guangdong Economic and Trade Representative Office in New Zealand, told the Global Times that the visa-simplification policy sends "a very positive policy signal."

"The 40 percent increase in Chinese tourist arrivals show that facilitation measures have a direct driving effect on the recovery of the tourism market," Wang said.

Wang noted that Chinese visitors' strong interest in skiing has helped lift demand across New Zealand's winter tourism sector, with inquiries for ski-related travel nearly doubling and hotels in Queenstown operating at higher occupancy. He said the impact is spreading beyond tourism into hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and more.

Industry representatives are also hoping the trial will be made permanent after the 12-month evaluation period, saying long-term stability would improve expectations for airlines, tourism operators, investors and service-sector companies.

The New Zealand government announced a visa -waiver policy in last June for Chinese citizens travelling from Australia, according to Xinhua News Agency. According to Immigration New Zealand, starting November 2025, New Zealand began trialing visa-waiver status for Chinese passport holders travelling from Australia with a valid Australian visitor, work, student or family visa, allowing them to visit New Zealand for up to three months with a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) rather than applying for a visa, Xinhua reported.

According to a separate announcement on June 18 2025, to make it easier for Chinese travelers to transit via New Zealand, from November, Chinese passport holders will no longer need to obtain a Transit Visa before transiting through New Zealand airports. Instead, they will be able to get a NZeTA.

The changes come as New Zealand seeks to strengthen tourism, which Upston said is the country's second-largest export earner, contributes 7.7 percent of GDP and supports one in nine jobs nationwide.

New Zealand welcomed 307,940 Chinese visitors in the 12 months through April, up 24 percent from the year-earlier period, according to latest Statistics New Zealand data.

China remains one of the country's three largest international visitor markets, alongside Australia and the US, together accounting for 65 percent of international tourism spending, said Tourism New Zealand CEO Rene de Monchy.

This is a highly positive and strategically forward-looking policy adjustment that brings great convenience to Chinese travelers. For New Zealand itself, the early results suggest that easier entry rules are doing more than filling hotels and restaurants: they are helping reconnect one of its most valuable tourism markets with the wider economy, Chen Hong, director of New Zealand Studies Centre from East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

New Zealand's visa-waiver trial is part of a broader global trend in which countries are adapting visa policies to attract Chinese travelers and restore tourism flows.

In a recent development, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin announced on June 4 that Uruguay will waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports, according to Xinhua. The move came after Chinese Foreign Ministry announced last year that, starting June 1, 2025, China's visa-free policy will benefit nationals of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, with the trial period lasting until May 31, 2026.

Meanwhile, China itself has expanded its own visa-free and transit-free policies in recent years, creating a "ripple effect" in international travel, prompting more and more countries to respond with concrete actions and helping to form a new visa-free landscape of mutual openness and multi-directional opening exchanges, analysts said.

China has implemented unilateral visa-free entry for 50 countries and has full mutual visa exemption with 29 countries. Last year, the proportion of foreign nationals entering China visa-free reached as high as 73 percent. The number of eligible entry ports has been expanded to 65 across 24 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and the permitted stay has been uniformly extended to 240 hours.

Meanwhile, the growing scale and sophistication of outbound Chinese tourism is reshaping global destinations, pushing businesses to improve services and diversify offerings, Chen said, adding that more foreign travelers are also visiting China under the country's expanding visa-free policies, further strengthening cross-border exchanges in tourism, trade, education and investment.