Queensland on Tour – Gala Dinner
27 February 2012
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman
I am delighted to be here tonight to participate in the ‘Queensland on Tour China’ Gala Dinner. And on a night as chilly and wintery as this evening’s, where else in the world would you rather be – than in Queensland on Tour!
And it appears many of your Chinese colleagues are heeding this call. Not just to Queensland, but to Australia more generally. To put it mildly, two-way travel between China and Australia is booming.
In recent years, China has risen to become Australia’s third-largest inbound tourism market. Some 500,000 Chinese tourists visited Australia in the year to December 2011. This influx generated over $2.7 billion in economic value, helping to make tourism one of Australia’s top exports.
And it has not been one-way traffic. Since 2000, Australians travelling to China have trebled from 83,400 to 277,300 per year. This represents an average annual increase of more that 16 percent. Both our nations have therefore seen rapid growth in tourism and people-to-people links.
These ties are important to us and the Australian Government wants to see them continue to grow. Our official forecasts predict that numbers of Chinese visitors to Australia are expected to increase to 783,000 by 2019, at an average annual rate of growth of nearly 8 percent.
And there is no doubt that a destination of choice for a large number of these expected tourists will be Queensland. With all its world-class attractions, Queensland is already an extremely well-known and popular destination for overseas tourists and, increasingly, those travellers are coming from China.
From the natural beauty of the Great Barrier Reef and the islands of the Whitsundays, to the fun and excitement of the Gold Coast, Queensland does indeed have much to offer the Chinese tourist.
But these are the obvious attractions. It is my hope that over the coming years Chinese travellers will become increasingly drawn to Queensland’s many other highlights, such as the state’s first-class wineries and many cultural and historical sites. In short, Queensland has something for everyone.
In concluding, I would just like to note. The recent success of the Australia – China tourism relationship is a truly impressive story. And central to the success of this story has been Guangzhou’s own China Southern Airlines.
The importance of China Southern to the Australian tourism market cannot be overstated. China Southern has been a key partner of the Australian tourism industry for over a decade. They have also been a great advocate of Australia as a tourism destination for the Chinese market.
China Southern’s recent decision to expand its services to Australia, including through the addition of a direct service to Brisbane, is a win-win situation for the airline, the Chinese people and the Queensland tourism industry.
Finally, I would like to wish this event every success. Australia is a land of immense beauty and natural wonder. I look forward to more and more Chinese tourists travelling ‘Down Under’ to experience first-hand the wonderful destinations, and unique adventures Australia has to offer.
Thank you.