Frequent Chinese flyers with China Southern Airlines will have their New Zealand visa applications streamlined, the New Zealand government announced Wednesday in a controversial plan to encourage wealthy tourists to visit the country.

Immigration Minister Nathan Guy said the agreement with China Southern Airlines to waive proof of funds requirements for frequent fliers would make it easier for "high-value" Chinese tourists to visit New Zealand.

"Planned to start from November 22, Gold and Silver frequent flyer card holders with China Southern Airlines will not have to produce evidence of sufficient funds to support themselves, as long as they can show their flight records over the previous two years," Guy said in a statement.

"This will make the visitor visa process more streamlined. At the same time though, applicants will still require a visa and need to meet health and good character requirements, as well as evidence of onward travel."

Immigration New Zealand, the country's immigration agency, would carefully monitor the arrangement, which could be suspended at any time if necessary.

"China is one of New Zealand's largest tourist markets with around 160,000 visitors coming here last year, contributing around 555 million NZ dollars ($453.5 million) to the economy. However they tend to stay for shorter periods of time. The aim of this new arrangement is to encourage more high-value tourists to visit and stay here for longer, producing greater economic benefit for New Zealand," said Guy.

"This group of travellers are considered to be low-risk as they travel regularly for business or leisure."

The arrangement had similar features to the Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme that facilitated the travel of organised tour groups from China to New Zealand.

"The ADS scheme has been in place for over a decade and has been a big success with around a million visitors from China coming to New Zealand on group tours under the ADS scheme so far," said Guy.

The waiver was only available to Chinese nationals who had travelled abroad before.

However, the opposition New Zealand First party described the arrangement as "dodgy," saying the government had been warned that international criminals often belonged to frequent flier clubs.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters raised the issue in Parliament, producing an internal memo from an Intelligence, Risk and Integrity Division official of Immigration New Zealand, warning, "Every international criminal I have come across is probably a member of such a club."

However, Peters also tabled another document from the Department of Labour, which oversees Immigration New Zealand, confirmed China Southern Airlines Gold and Silver card holders were "likely to be low risk."

Peters said the documents showed a clear abuse of both New Zealand border controls and the visitor visa system that was being driven directly from the Minister's office.

"It is disgraceful for the Minister to confirm in Parliament today that he's prepared to weaken our border security to simply attract a few more tourists," Peters said in a statement.

The announcement came the same day that China Southern Airlines announced it was flying 250 Chinese travel agents to New Zealand aboard its new double-deck A380 aircraft as part of a five-day incentive package.

"China Southern Airlines is committed to developing our service with New Zealand and as a way of demonstrating this, and rewarding our most successful travel agents, we chose this country for our annual familiarization program," China Southern Airlines New Zealand general manager Henry Dai said in a statement.

"This trip will allow the travel agents to experience what New Zealand has to offer their customers first-hand, and in doing so increase the opportunity for third-party endorse to future travelers."

China Southern Airlines flies daily between Auckland and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.