Dad, Where Are We Going? is the title of a Chinese TV show starring five children and their celebrity dads.

"The potential for growth remains huge. So Australia and New Zealand are locked in a battle for [Chinese tourists] hearts and wallets."

Jason Murphy, Publisher, Thomas the Think Engine

Each episode, three actors, a singer and a gold-medal winning gymnast take their children to enviable travel locations. It’s a ratings mega-hit, with each episode reaching 75 million viewers. The dads and their kids have always enjoyed visiting parts of China.

But in the most recent episodes that has dramatically changed. Suddenly Yang Yangyang, his dad, and all the rest are tromping around New Zealand. Aotearoa is being beamed into millions of lounge rooms.

This is a PR coup of immense proportions.

Tourism accounts for an estimated 9 per cent of the global economy, according to the UN’s World Tourism Organisation. Globally, tourism numbers have gone from 25 million in 1950 to 1087 million in 2013. Chinese outbound tourism is both the biggest and fastest growing sector.

The UN reports that Chinese tourists spent more than any other group in 2013, at $129 billion.

The economic clout of these tourists is enough to make any country richer. But just five per cent of Chinese people have passports. The potential for growth remains huge. So Australia and New Zealand are locked in a battle for their hearts and wallets.