Chinese visitors are "spending up a storm'' in Wanaka.
That was the observation of Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager James Helmore, even before the influx of Chinese tourists for Chinese New Year celebrations.
Mr Helmore said credit card spending data showed Wanaka outstripping all other New Zealand tourist destinations in some aspects.
"We are the leading region in terms of the percentage increase in spend by the Chinese market,'' Mr Helmore said.
"We're head and shoulders above Queenstown as well in that regard.''
Mr Helmore said the reason was that skydiving in Wanaka was one of the top activities for Chinese visitors and that had a "reasonably good'' ticket price.
The Wanaka spend was also boosted by the Chinese use of luxury lodges.
"That's actually quite pleasing to see because we are getting Chinese visitors that are the higher end.''
Mr Helmore said there had been exponential increases in spending each year, "certainly around the Chinese New Year period''.
"We don't win on volume, but we win on spend, which is the more important indicator as far as I'm concerned.''
Mr Helmore said Chinese visitors assisted by the i-Site were "typically spending 60-80% more than the average spend''.
Lake Wanaka Tourism had concentrated on educating the Chinese travel industry, and emphasised Wanaka's point of difference.
"The point of difference is our local personalities delivering the experience as opposed to our friends over in Queenstown who deal more in that group space.''
Mr Helmore said Wanaka was seeing only the tip of the iceberg of potential growth in the Chinese market.
