Jetstar are planning to use its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to fly two weekly services between Gold Coast, Queensland and Wuhan, China from late September.
The move comes as Jetstar signed a deal with Chinese firm Dalian Wanda Group the company behind the $1 billion Jewel, a five-star multi-purpose hotel and complex being built in Surfers Paradise and slated for completion by 2018.
According to reports, Dalian will increase inbound tourism by selling integrated flight and holiday packages to the Gold Coast to Chinese travellers.
The new services, which add around 70,000 seats annually between the two countries, were also immediately welcomed by industry bodies and inbound tourism operators.
“This new twice weekly service is a welcome boost for the Queensland export tourism industry and will help to re-engage the Chinese leisure market which has seen some local contraction in the past few years,” ATEC’s managing director Peter Shelley said.
“We particularly welcome the partnership approach with a local Gold Coast hotel group which will clearly target the leisure market.”
Shelly said the Gold Coast had seen a recent decline in Chinese visitor numbers and the Jetstar flights would help to reinstate engagement with the Chinese market.
“In a time when China is Australia’s fastest growing international visitor market, the Gold Coast deserves to be a leading destination for Chinese visitors,” he said.
