Chinese love Australian tourism / Tourism News

The Chinese are on the way to becoming the new Japanese of Australian tourism.

Having overtaken Americans to become the country’s fourth-largest group of inbound holidaymakers, Chinese tourists are being touted as the future for an industry hit by the global financial crisis and the strong Australian dollar.

Not surprisingly, the tourism industry is paying close attention to their needs.
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While Japanese like to snorkel, the Chinese like to gamble, Tourism Research Australia has shown. In 2009 a third of Chinese tourists visited a casino, compared with 16 per cent of other tourists. They also like amusement parks and beaches.

In more good news for tourism operators, the Chinese stay longer and spend more money than the Japanese. In 2009 Chinese visitors contributed $7287 to the economy compared with $3420 from the Japanese. The average Chinese visitor stayed 53 nights compared with 22 by the Japanese.

Tourism Research Australia predicts there will be 531,000 Chinese visitors in total this year, up 21.9 per cent. Chinese tourists will make up almost half of those visitors, up 28.7 per cent.

Roger March, a tourism researcher at Central Queensland University, said hotels and restaurants are broadening services for the China’s growing tourist market.

“Tourism operators are trying to understand how to produce service to the Chinese in terms of the meals they want, and what they want in hotels, the room service – things like making sure there are noodles on the service menu,” Professor March said.

Australia was one of the first Western countries to be granted approved destination status by China in 1999. Since then, Chinese tourists have been allowed to travel to Australia for leisure in groups.

Convenience is behind Australia’s appeal for Chinese tourists, said Professor March.

“It’s overseas travel on training wheels. There’s very little time difference, there’s a substantial Chinese community in most of the destinations, there’s a relatively large Mandarin-speaking population in the cities, there’s that support infrastructure,” he said.

Japanese tourists have moved beyond main attractions such as the Harbour Bridge and prefer experiences such as glow worm tours at the Gold Coast, he said.

“They’re much more specific in what they want, rather than the Chinese who want the generic travel experience. They want a shot of the Opera House and a tour of Bondi Beach,” he said.