China Southern is expanding its Australian network beyond Sydney and Adelaide with its third new Aussie route in just over 18 months.
Tropical North Queensland’s leaders confirmed last week that the airline will launch a three times weekly Guangzhou-Cairns service from December this year.
The service will add to the carrier’s recently introduced Sydney and Adelaide flights, while also giving thousands of Chinese travellers direct access to Queensland’s north.
According to Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s (TTNQ) Chair Max Shepherd, China Southern’s Guangzhou-Cairns service will be the first direct year-round operation between Cairns and China’s mainland.
Shepherd expects the new flights will inject some $30.8 million in overnight visitor expenditure during the first year alone, while it could equal up to $90 million over three years.
“The establishment of scheduled services from the world’s largest tourism market will connect new consumers to Australia and create profound opportunities for the Tropical North Queensland industry.”
Max Shepherd, Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chair
According to Shepherd, visitors from China for the year ending March 2017 reached up to 218,000 for Tropical North Queensland, an 8.8 percent increase on the prior year.
“Direct flights will allow us to tap into the positive response from both the Chinese travel industry at the recent Australian Tourism Exchange and the rapidly growing online travel agents in China,” he added.