It was interesting to note that as keen as the Australians are to reach out to the Chinese traveler, so are the Chinese in growing their share of the Australian pie.

The Australians have a clear goal – to make China, now its fourth largest market for visitors, its top source by 2020. To do that, it unveiled its China 2020 Strategic Plan at the inaugural Australia-China Tourism Summit held in Cairns yesterday.

The Chinese meanwhile count Australia as its 10th largest market and it is clear that through the memorandum of understanding signed between the two governments in Cairns, they hope more Australians will visit China in the next few years.

Dr Du Jiang, vice chairman, Chinese National Tourism Administration, called it a two-way street and said he hoped both countries can work on cultural tourism as one of the pillars of exchange.

Later Professor Dai Bin of the Chinese Tourism Academy noted that China has a US$6 billion tourism deficit but said it is prepared to "endure" it for the sake of good neighbourliness.

The desire to engage was most evident during the airline panel. Three of China's major airlines – China Southern, China Eastern and Air China – were there to underscore their longterm commitment to Australia and to expand routes to regional gateways beyond the main cities.

Full story:

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