The Chinese outbound market will hit 100 million by 2020 and Australia will capture around 1% of those travellers, Tourism Australia has predicted.
While current growth rates of 20%-30% are probably not sustainable, arrivals are likely to break the one million barrier by the end of the decade.
‚ÄúIf we do we will have achieved our stretch objectives,” tourism minister Martin Ferguson said.
The tourism body was initially targeting 860,000 visitors by 2020.
Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon added: ‚ÄúThat 1% might sound small but it is so important.”
Managing director Andrew McEvoy said yield was critical, with the economic value likely to surpass $9.6 billion.
But he added that visitor growth will settle.
‚ÄúWe can‚Äôt keep going at 20% to 30%, I would argue. Our job is to see if we can hold or gain share against all our competitors,” he said.
