Gold Coast Airport boss heads to China for talks with three key Chinese airlines

THE Gold Coast Airport will sit down face-to-face with three key Chinese airlines next week in the hope to lure them to the Glitter Strip.

Gold Coast Airport. Picture: Luke Marsden.

GOLD Coast Airport CEO Chris Mills will meet with three key Chinese airlines next week in the hope of luring them to the Glitter Strip.

Mr Mills will spruik the city as a part of a delegation to drive more visitors to the city.

He will have plenty of competition with airport bosses from across the country, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, all trying to get a slice of the lucrative Chines tourism dollar.

Tourism Minister and Member for Moncrieff Steve Ciobo will head the delegation after a landmark agreement was signed with China last year to open air travel between the two countries.

The Gold Coast skyline from Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast.

The agreement, the first China has made with any other country, removes capacity restrictions and allows unlimited flights from any points in Australia and China.

The group will get the chance to speak to China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines as part of a long process of cementing agreements with international airlines.

Gold Coast Airport chairman Paul Donovan said the results of the meeting would not be known until months later because it often took time to finalise agreements.

“I am confident we will get something out of it but it won’t be known next week,” he said.

“Being there and waving the flag is very important.”

Gold Coast Airport CEO is headed to China for talks with three key Chinese airlines to lure them to the Glitter Strip.

Mr Donovan said every airport was trying to gain the attention of Chinese airlines and being their face-to-face was often the best way to get noticed.

Chinese tourism is already incredibly valuable to the Gold Coast with almost 300,000 visitors from the country arriving here last year.

It is estimated those visitors spent about $340 million.

Tourism Research Australia estimates that by 2019-2020 Chinese visitors to Australia will rise from 1.2 million to more than two million and contribute more than $16.4 billion to the country’s economy.

Gold Coast Airport CEO is headed to China for talks with three key Chinese airlines to lure them to the Glitter Strip.

Mr Ciobo said those tourist dollars were creating jobs on the Gold Coast.

“Chinese are travelling more than ever so we need to make sure Australia is their destination of choice,” he said.

“We need to attract as many Chinese tourists as we can.

“China will soon be our largest source of overseas visitors, contributing a significant amount to the tourism sector and our broader economy.”

The trip will coincide with the launch of the China-Australia Year of Tourism next week.