More Top Stories

Court
Economy
Economy
Economy
Economy
Education

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma visits Rarotonga

Tuesday 7 March 2023 | Written by Al Williams | Published in National, Tourism

Share

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma visits Rarotonga
Both planes landed at Rarotonga Airport on Sunday and are scheduled to fly out today. PHOTO: AL WILLIAMS/ 23030721 /23030722

The arrival of two planes at Rarotonga International Airport has aircraft spotters asking questions.

Cook Islands News can confirm both of them arrived here on Sunday and left this morning (Tuesday).

Staff at the airport said both planes flew in from Niue and were set to fly to Ecuador.

It was then revealed Chinese billionaire Jack Ma was possibly on the island.

It is understood Ma’s small delegation has been on a tour of the Pacific, visiting the islands over the past few weeks.


Both planes landed at Rarotonga Airport on Sunday and are scheduled to fly out today. PHOTO: AL WILLIAMS/ 23030721 /23030722

Last week he was seen in Fiji and on Sunday he stopped by Niue for a couple of hours to see a few of the sights on the island, according to Niue media.

Ma is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group.

According to Forbes, Ma, a former school teacher, has a net worth of US$23.1 billion (NZ$37.2b) and is the 55th on the Forbes list of richest people and the fifth richest person in China.

The other aircraft belongs to billionaire Wu Guangming, the founder and chairman of China’s Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment & Supply.

Comments

Miria Reu on 08/03/2023

Great to have you visit!

Tarakaimano Tutapu on 08/03/2023

Great opportunity possibly coming to Avaiki nui 'Cook Islands ' for future development our homeland needs to entice our educated people to bring their skills home