NSW launches China Tourism Strategy
The New South Wales (NSW) Government has launched an eight year plan to greatly increase tourism from China and double visitor expenditure to the State by 2020.
Designed by Destination NSW and funded by the Government to the tune of AU$15 million (US$15.6 million) over the next four years, the China Tourism Strategy 2012-2020 was unveiled by Minister for Tourism, Major Events and Arts, George Souri at the NSW Tourism Industry event attended last week.
Mr Souri said; “This plan will directly encourage visitors from China, our largest tourist market and support the NSW tourism sector to achieve industry best practice.”
As the first strategic programme in the NSW Government’s response to the Visitor Economy Taskforce (VET) Report, the strategy focuses on eight key areas which include:
Extending marketing activities into four primary China source markets, including Greater Beijing, Greater Shanghai, Guangdong Provence and Chengdu;
Supporting aviation and route development, including strengthening agreements with Qantas, China Southern, China Eastern and the Sydney Airport Corporation;
Targeting high performing consumer segments, including China’s emerging middle class consumers, business events, assisted Free Independent Travellers (FIT) and students;
Improving the quality and range of visitor experiences, by working with the NSW tourism industry to research customer-focused Chinese visitor needs to build on NSW’s world-class visitor experiences for Chinese consumers;
Increasing consumer promotion, including strengthening Sydney’s and NSW’s brand appeal in key FIT markets of Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai to build consumer awareness of specialist product categories and experiences;
Strengthening trade distribution networks, including Missions to Market for NSW operators to engage with China-based travel distributors;
Expanding commercial and Government partnerships to provide a unified approach to working effectively within China’s regulatory environment, to deliver strategic business outcomes;
Increasing resources to drive market growth, by expanding Destination NSW’s stand-alone offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong to coordinate implementation of the China Tourism Strategy.
Souris said that NSW had the largest share of Chinese visitors to Australia, as well as the largest share of Chinese visitor expenditure. Between July 2011 and June 2012, visitors from China to NSW increased by more than 15% to 335,500. During the same period, NSW received more than 60% Chinese visitors to Australia, compared to Victoria at 51% and Queensland at 43%.