China will be even more besotted with Aussie shores with the latest tourism agreement.
Sydney and NSW will now be promoted as Australia’s tip top tourism and events destination to 250 million people across China as part of an exclusive two-year deal between the NSW Government and Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres signed the Memorandum of Understanding at a meeting with Ctrip executives in Shanghai today.
Destination NSW is the first state tourism organisation in Australia to enter into a formal agreement with Ctrip, and the MOU cranks the strong relationship between the pair up a notch to new heights.
“This agreement means an even closer relationship between the NSW Government and Ctrip, delivering more travel packages to Sydney and Regional NSW to more visitors from China – NSW’s number one inbound visitor market,” Ayres said.
“Ctrip provides flights, hotels and package tours and this exciting agreement will enable the NSW tourism industry to reach a staggering 250 million prospective visitors.”
Ctrip’s senior vice president Li Xiaoping said the partnership will open up new opportunities.
“As China’s largest online travel service provider and travel group and the world’s third-largest online travel group, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with Destination NSW over the past two years and we are delighted to have the opportunity to extend our strategic partnership,” he said.
“This alliance represents the start of a new chapter for tourism destination marketing in China, which will see NSW benefit from the scale of our platforms and customer base.”
And from a homegrown perspective, Destination NSW’s ceo Sandra Chipchase thinks China holds the elusive key to a brighter tourism future.
“The China market is key to our growth strategies and partnering with Ctrip will see us deliver campaigns over the next two years to promote Sydney and NSW as Australia’s most exciting destinations,” Chipchase said.
China is currently NSW’s largest inbound tourism market and continues to show impressive growth.
In the year ended March 2015, NSW experienced a 19% increase in visitors from China to reach almost 500,000 visitors. There was also a 27% increase in expenditure by Chinese visitors of $1.9 billion over the 12 months.
