China set to surpass Australia’s 2020 target

AT the rate China is growing for Australia, the country’s tourism vision 2020 of boosting Chinese arrivals to 876,000, and their travel spend to A$7 billion (US$6.97 billion) to A$9 billion is turning out to be an easy target.

Saying the targets are “more than achievable”, Johnny Nee, Tourism Australia’s regional general manager, North Asia, & chief representative China, explained China already topped the charts in terms of spending last year, even though it was number four in terms of number of arrivals. And by September, China had risen to the second largest market for Australia, after New Zealand, elbowing out traditional markets the UK, US and Japan.

Nee told TTG Asia e-Daily: “I believe more than 900,000 Chinese will visit Australia by 2020 because, by the end of 2011, I expect more than 500,000 will already have visited.”

Nee said the restructuring of the Hong Kong and Greater China office had been effective in helping Tourism Australia focus on the right strategy to tap China, building Aussie specialists among Chinese travel consultants and now communicating directly to consumers to further raise awareness of Australia. As well, more new airlinks and gateways, such as Guangzhou, were tied up.

But Nee said it was a misnomer to see China as an easy target. “Competition is strong, so our focus is also on making the industry here understand the needs of China market. We take care of the demand side, they have to come up with the right supply and innovative ideas.”

– Full report in the next issue of TTGmice

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