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WA Government News | Nov 11, 2018
- Tourism WA to allocate an extra $1 million into China market
- More marketing activity to encourage direct air routes
- Focus on building consumer awareness of Western Australia in Shanghai
The State Government, through Tourism Western Australia, will implement a new marketing strategy to increase the number of Chinese people visiting WA.
The strategy will see an additional $1 million allocated to the China market for co-operative and tactical campaigns to build awareness of Western Australia in Shanghai.
The marketing push will demonstrate the McGowan Government's commitment to securing more direct flights from China.
In 2017-18, 59,000 Chinese people visited WA, up 17.2 per cent compared to this time last year, and spent $299 million while they were here, making China the State's biggest international visitor market in terms of spend.
The number of Chinese visitors has grown an average of 11.6 per cent a year since 2016, ahead of the national average of 11.3 per cent for the same period.
The new strategy will look to build on this growth by driving business and incentive travel, and promoting products through existing key distribution partners.
Tourism WA will also encourage WA tourism operators to become ChinaReady to better serve the Chinese consumer.
Comments attributed to Tourism Minister Paul Papalia:
"China has been a strong performing market since direct flights on China Southern Airlines between Perth and Guangzhou were introduced, with the number of visitors more than doubling in that time.
"We recognise that there is the potential to grow this market further, which is why we are implementing a new China market strategy as outlined in Tourism WA's Two-Year Action Plan.
"The plan also includes increasing aviation capacity from China with new direct flights and increased frequency on existing services."
Minister's office - 6552 5600