I'd argue better than "nice gesture". For anyone who collected Animal Crossing Amiibo figures or cards, this is a big deal. New mini-games, new characters, the ability to have more control over your town... It's all good news, and the first time many Animal Crossing Amiibo collections will have any functionality beyond looking pretty.
Obviously this won't make the game appealing if you didn't enjoy it already - but I'd argue that such people aren't the target audience anyway. It certainly does make the card collecting more appealing (for me at least).
My only complaint is timing: obviously rolling this out at the same time as the Amiibo cards would've been a better business idea...
Edit: Oh, and I guess this is more incentive to get a New 3DS when I replace my 3DS XL. Amiibo functions will be easier that way, and it hardly seems worth buying an extra portal to scan a few cards.