Experience Mid Canterbury general manager Bruce Moffat said arrivals from China had dropped nationally by 10.5 per cent over the last year. He hoped its impact would not be as big as the SARS virus a number of years ago, which had affected tourism in a big way and for many months. While Chinese spend for the period March to October 2019 was $4million, and had tracked between $4m and $5 for a few years, the US spend here was now $5m, up from $3m not too long ago. Mid Canterbury’s annual return from tourism, as measured by the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, is $186m. Each event draws 17,000-20,000 people and Experience Mid Canterbury expects to have between 300 and 500 face to face promotions with consumers at each of them.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 10, 2020 06:00 UTC