Tourism Australia is off to China to woo big spending travellers

Tourism Australia will stage its most important meetings in four years as an envoy heads to China in the hope of wooing back big-spending visitors.

Tourism Australia will stage its most important meetings in four years from Wednesday when managing director Phillipa Harrison heads to China to reignite the country’s $12bn love affair with the land down under.

Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, Chinese visitors were Australia’s biggest and most lucrative international market, with 1.4 million travelling here a year representing 15 per cent of all foreign tourists.

Expenditure of close to $5000 a trip per person, meant Chinese tourists accounted for a third of all spend, making their return critical to rebuilding the visitor economy.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison will spend three days from Wednesday visiting Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, meeting with strategic partners including major airlines.

Currently the number of airline seats available between China and Australia is at just 23 per cent of pre-Covid-19 capacity when 158 flights a week were operating.

By June, capacity is expected to be at 36 per cent of 2019 levels before rising to 80 per cent by year’s end.

The visit will coincide with a localised version of Tourism Australia’s “Don’t Go Small, Go Australia” campaign, showcasing attractions like beaches, the Great Barrier Reef and Great Ocean Road.

Tourism Australia is stepping up its efforts to woo big-spending Chinese visitors back to the land down under. Picture: Supplied

Ms Harrison said the “time was right” to visit Australia’s number one tourism market as Chinese travellers began to return down under.

“I look forward to meeting with our key airline partners including Air China and China Southern Airlines, about opportunities to strengthen aviation capacity to Australia,” Ms Harrison said.

“A strong aviation environment is key to the growth of the China market.”

She said this visit would focus on recapturing the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) market, as well as pent up demand for an Australian holiday.

“These meetings will be crucial as we build up to the launch of a major campaign in China in the middle of the year,” said Ms Harrison.

That campaign would see Ruby the Roo introduced to the Chinese population, as the star of the Come and say G’Day advertisements.

The plush toy kangaroo and her friend Louie the unicorn were expected to have strong appeal to a Chinese audience, after three years at home.

Research by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission showed China’s growing middle class aspired to restart their travel activity, with Australia seen as a relatively short-haul destination with a good reputation, particularly among international students.

Projected visitor arrivals put China on track to return to pre-pandemic visitor numbers in Australia by 2026.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce was not quite ready to say when the airline would restart its flights to mainland China but hinted they were in the pipeline.

Speaking at the carrier’s half-year results last week, Mr Joyce said with Hong Kong flights operating again, China would follow.

“There’s very strong demand (for Hong Kong). We’ve now put the (super jumbo) A380 on Sydney-Hong Kong to meet that demand,” Mr Joyce said.

The broader tourism industry was keen to see such measures as pre-departure Covid tests for Chinese travellers to Australia dropped to stimulate interest.

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley said any impediments to travel were not helpful to rebuilding the international visitor market in a very competitive environment.

“It needs to be the best user experience from the time you decide to come to Australia,” Mr Shelley.

“If there are any impediments, there are plenty of other places to visit that don’t have those restrictions.”