Tourism Australia has been urged to accelerate its growth in China as other countries step up their fight to attract the Chinese traveller.
Arrivals in January climbed 27.4% according to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), fuelled by the Lunar New Year.
But the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) warned that while Australia was performing well, rival nations were coming up on the rails.
“Australia has enjoyed Approved Destination Status longer than all of our rivals and Chinese visitation has risen on average 11% per annum since 2001,” TTF chief executive John Lee said. “It is critical to build on that momentum and capitalise on the competitive advantage of our proximity to Asia.
“However, China’s potential is also recognised by our competitors who are making substantial investments to attract Chinese tourists.”
He listed the US, UK and Canada as showing fast growth with such competition “clearly demonstrating the urgency of increasing the support for Tourism Australia’s activities in China”.
Overall arrivals jumped 4.8% with Hong Kong seeing 22% growth, Taiwan 19% and Indonesia almost 14%.
