Tourists from China may not return until 2024 - Nash

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash says tourists are beginning to return to Aotearoa, but that it was likely at least a year before visitors from China came back in numbers.

Large numbers of Australians have crossed the Tasman, and there's been a steady stream of manuhiri from North America too. Data shows about 145,000 overseas visitors arrived in the four weeks to October 26.

Speaking to Q+A, Nash said a China expert told him the country's strict Covid-19 measures wouldn't be eased until Chinese New Year at the earliest.

He added that, realistically, visitors from the country of 1.4 billion wouldn't start arriving in large numbers until 2024.

Nash acknowledged there were still issues for the industry, especially around finding staff, but said tourists were starting to return in numbers - including those on working visas who could help bolster the tourism workforce.

"For the first time in a long time that huge, big light at the end of the tunnel isn't a steam train," he said. "It is international tourists, it's money being spent.

"The lack of workforce compared to what we had pre-Covid is a concern because we do need to be able to deliver on the expectations of those people who are spending a lot of money to get here."

However, Nash believes those arriving will be busy enjoying the sun and expected them to show a "little bit of latitude" to operators struggling to meet demand.

"If it takes them ten minutes longer to get their coffee, so be it."

He said over 35,000 working visas have been approved, with 17,000 workers already in the country - and roughly a thousand more arriving each week.

Prior to the pandemic, tourism was New Zealand's largest export industry and brought in around $40 billion in 2019. Nash said he hopes the country will continue growing its tourism industry, even after visitor numbers return to pre-2020 levels.

However, he would not be drawn on an "ideal number" of tourists - instead arguing that part of the approach was to get visitors to travel further afield in order to do "one more thing" on their trip.