Northern Territory ready to build tourism ties with China

Chief Minister Adam Giles has been on a three-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing for high-level talks on further developing tourism between the Territory and China.

The Chief Minister also sold trade and investment opportunities with the Prime Minister, as well as other state and territory leaders at the Australia Week in China (AWIC).

Mr Giles said China was an increasingly important source of visitors to Australia and securing air links between the Territory and China were extremely important in developing China as a source of more visitors to the NT.

“Currently the Territory attracts less than two per cent of Chinese visitors to Australia, despite our product being well aligned with the interests of visitors from China,” he said.

“We have iconic landscapes and unique wildlife adventure tourism products, which for particularly the younger market segment, are high on their priorities.

“The issue is these visitors want to fly direct and that’s why we are lobbying airlines in China to establish a service to the NT.”

“It’s a long road ahead but we are presenting our case well.

“The Territory wants to double its share of Chinese tourists from the current level of about 14 000 to 30 000 a year by 2020.

“That’s an ambitious target but China is where we are going to see the growth in the Australian and Northern Territory tourism market over the years to come,” Mr Giles said.

“If we are not positioning the Territory at the forefront of airlines in China then our local industry will miss out to our competitor destinations.”

While in China, Mr Giles will join Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and a several hundred strong delegation of Australian businesses, for a major investment expo in Shanghai.

“Australia Week in China is a major focus of Australia’s trade and investment attraction program following the successful negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement.

“Shanghai will be awash with an Aussie feel for this major push to develop new relationships and opportunities.

“Our nation’s political leaders will be working with major Australian businesses to raise awareness of the opportunities for two-way trade and particularly, from the Territory perspective, opportunities for joint ventures in the area of agribusiness.

“We are looking to expand the Ord River Irrigation Scheme into the Territory, which has real potential to offer a high yield agricultural environment and be the source of high-end premium produce for the Asian markets including China.

“I’ll be promoting this and other investment opportunities during AWIC,” Mr Giles said.