NSW tourism leaders say they’re going after the Chinese market with a new two-year agreement with Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at a meeting with Ctrip executives in Shanghai this week, saying it will give the destination access to million of potential visitors.
“This agreement means an even closer relationship between the NSW Government and Ctrip, delivering more travel packages to Sydney and Regional NSW to more visitors from China – NSW’s number one inbound visitor market.”
Stuart Ayres, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events
Stuart Ayres MP, New South Wales Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events.
“Ctrip provides flights, hotels and package tours and this exciting agreement will enable the NSW tourism industry to reach a staggering 250 million prospective visitors.”
Ctrip Senior Vice President Mr Li Xiaoping said the agreement represents a ‘new chapter’ for tourism destination marketing in China, while Destination NSW CEO, Sandra Chipchase sees it as key to promote Sydney and NSW ‘as Australia’s most exciting destinations’.
China is currently NSW’s largest inbound tourism market and continues to show impressive growth.
In the year ended March 2015, NSW experienced a 19 percent increase in visitors from China to reach almost 500,000 visitors. There was also a 27 percent increase in expenditure by Chinese visitors of $1.9 billion over the 12 months.