Links between Australia and China are stronger than ever. This has been demonstrated by the significant growth in Chinese international visitors to Melbourne Airport again in 2012 (up 17%). Many Chinese will be coming to Melbourne to visit family; others may be international student alumni, returning to visit old friends. The growing affluent middle class in China means that many visitors may be interested in investing in property, or exploring business opportunities in Melbourne.

We believe that there are two clear opportunities that the Melbourne visitor industry has when engaging with the Chinese Market. The first opportunity is “group” travel from China. Australia was granted “Approved Destination Status”, otherwise…

The Chinese community holds a special place in our history and with every generation we strengthen our links.

There are doubts in the market that Group Buying is merely a ‘flash in the pan’ and not sustainable in the long term. Others argue that in the last 3 years we’ve seen a new, long-term marketing strategy emerge.

The Australian tourism industry is extremely concerned by the Government’s plans to apply a 28.6% increase to the Working Holiday Visa (WHV) fee as outlined in last month’s Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.