Tourism Australia to entice Chinese travellers through new ad campaign

Sydney, Australia - February 10, 2019: Tourist and holiday makers enjoying sunny day at Circular Quay near  Opera House with the view of Harbour Bridge and Luna park at Milsons Point

Tourism Australia is looking to lure travellers from China back Down Under through a new ad campaign and with a visit from managing director Phillipa Harrison.

The campaign, which is set to go live this month, is a localised version of the Don’t Go Small, Go Australia campaign which was launched into other key markets as Australia reopened international borders over a year ago.

Tourism Australia’s campaign is targetted towards people looking to visit friends and relatives, alongside capitalising on pent up travel demand.

Harrison, on her visit to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, said the campaign is there to remind Chinese travellers why “there is nothing like Australia.”

“With Chinese travellers starting to return to Australia now is the right time to visit our number one tourism market and meet with our longstanding partners,” she said.

On her visit, Harrison plans to meet with strategic partners, including major airlines Air China and China Southern Airlines.

“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, as a strong aviation environment had been key to the growth of the China market.”

Harrison told WA Today that Chinese tourists can apply for visas online and that a bespoke WeChat program would be launched.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, China was Australia’s leading visitor market with Australia welcoming 1.4 million visitors from China, contributing $12.4 billion in visitor spend. This level of tourism is unlikely to return until 2026, according to Tourism Australia estimates.

But this return hasn’t always seemed so likely as at the height of the pandemic and tension between the Australian Government and the CCP, former ambassador to China Cheng Jingye warned that Chinese tourists may not return to Australia.

This was influenced by the inquiry into the origins of the COVID pandemic, Australian stances on human rights and national security concerns.

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