CHINA is proving to be an integral component for Australia’s tourism industry, with arrivals increasing 63 per cent between January 2010 and 2011, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In 2010, 453,800 Chinese visitors landed in Australia, injecting $3.1 billion to the economy.
Last year, China was the most valuable market to the Australian travel industry, followed by the UK at $2.9 billion and New Zealand at $1.9 billion, according to the federal government’s Tourism Research Australia.
According to Tourism WA, the Chinese market had the most growth for the year ending September 2010, at 31.6 per cent, followed by South Korea (19.3 per cent) and Japan (10.6 per cent).
The number of travellers from Hong Kong and Malaysia also increased – by 26 per cent 25 per cent respectively.
“With extra services and charter flights between Australia and China, these new figures mean there is now little doubt about the importance of the growing Chinese market,” Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said.
According to Tourism WA, airline access is the largest barrier to Western Australia taking advantage of this growth in the Chinese market, with no non-stop air services currently operating between WA and mainland China.
Up until 1999 Chinese tourists were not permitted to travel in groups to certain destinations and Australia and New Zealand were the first Western countries to be approved by Chinese government in its liberalised outbound travel policies.
Emily Morgan