NSW Attracts Chinese Visitors

Australia

Visitor numbers to NSW from China continue to grow.

Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer, Sandra Chipchase, welcomed the latest Overseas Arrivals and Departures figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that confirm China has maintained its strong visitor growth to NSW.

ABS data showed 542,000 arrivals from China, which is a 19 per cent increase in visitors to Australia in 2011 on the previous year.

Sandra Chipchase

 “In calendar year 2011, there were 260,931 Chinese visitors who spent the majority of their trip in our State,” Ms Chipchase said.

 “To see such strong results in our international tourism market from China over the past year is really heartening and is testament to the major marketing push Destination NSW is leading in that important market.

China Southern Airlines

“Destination NSW is continuing its strong engagement with the Chinese market including recent meetings with China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chengdu Municipal Government located in the Sichuan province in central China.

“China Southern Airlines is the third largest airline in the world carrying nearly 80 million passengers per year. Destination NSW met with eight senior executives from the airline to build on our marketing partnership and discuss future opportunities to work together to bring more Chinese visitors to NSW.

“We have also recently struck arrangements with long-haul budget airlines Scoot and AirAsia X to commence daily services to Sydney, which will increase inbound airline capacity by over 500 seats per day from Asian hub cities.”

Destination NSW is also partnering with industry stakeholders in the following initiatives to attract visitors to NSW from China.

Sydney NSW Australia

- A $1.6 million marketing campaign with partners China Southern Airlines and Tourism Australia to promote Sydney and NSW to consumers in mainland China during 2012.

- A similar campaign with China Southern Airlines generated passengers to visit NSW on itineraries of two nights in Sydney and one night in regional NSW, which was particularly popular for group tours.

- Sydney will feature as a "must visit destination‟ in the February edition of China Eastern Airlines‟ in-flight magazine.

- In February, Destination NSW will partner with Tourism Queensland for a joint trade mission to China, to promote Sydney and NSW as a great holiday destination to Chinese travel agents.

- Destination NSW is also running a joint marketing campaign with China-based tour operator, Shanghai Bus Tours, promoting the Legendary Pacific Coast touring route. - - Shanghai Bus Tours has recently launched this holiday package which includes overnight breaks in Port Stephens and Port Macquarie.

Port Macquarie NSW Australia

- Destination NSW is partnering with Virgin Atlantic and Opera Australia to promote the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour event which opens in March 2012, and the Royal Easter Show to Hong Kong consumers.

“The Chinese visitor market to Australia is expected to grow at an average rate of 7.8 per cent per year and Chinese visitor arrivals to Australia are expected to reach close to one million by 2020.

“Destination NSW is working hard to capitalise on that growing source market and maintain NSW as the leading destination for Chinese visitors,” Ms Chipchase said.

For further details, see Overseas Arrivals and Departures Snapshot (Dec 2011) ABS