Prospective Chinese tourists to Australia are more likely to search for information about Airlie Beach, Hobart and Adelaide than Perth, but they are increasingly interested in Margaret River as a destination, due its reputation for good wine and food.

Data from TripAdvisor's China arm revealed searches for Margaret River have risen by 525 per cent over the last year and now make up one quarter of all searches for Perth. That compares to the 10 per cent of Chinese visitors to Western Australia that actually visited the south-west region containing Margaret River last year according to tourism data.