Cairns will receive its first direct connection from China when China Southern Airlines begins its thrice-weekly flights from Guangzhou on an Airbus A330-200 aircraft this December, following the airline’s recently launched flights to Sydney and Adelaide.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) chair, Max Shepherd, said: “Established under the Queensland Government’s A$33.5 million (US$25.7 million) Advance Queensland: Connecting with Asia initiative, this will be the first direct year-round service from mainland China to Cairns.”
Cairns Esplanade
Growth from China continued for the year ending March 2017, delivering 218,000 visitors to Tropical North Queensland, an 8.8 per cent increase which represented more than half of Queensland’s 406,000 Chinese holiday visitors.
The Guangzhou-Cairns service will provide a substantial opportunity to build on the growth in arrivals from the region’s top source market, said Shepherd. Offering a total of 33,852 seats, this new sector is projected to inject A$30.8 million in overnight visitor expenditure for the region in the first year and A$90 million over three years.
“TTNQ developed the concept for Australia’s Tropical Resort Holiday Destination two and a half years ago as a catalyst for the introduction of direct flights to Cairns,” Shephard said, adding that the region has since been seeking to position itself as not just a group holiday but also mono destination for the burgeoning Chinese FIT market.
Cairns Airport CEO Norris Carter expects the service will “open up (the) Canton Route for travel between Europe and Cairns”, and marks a welcomed news for the region in the 2017 China Australia Year of Tourism.
