The Australian government is hoping to entice Chinese travellers to visit our country over and over and over again with the introduction of new 10-year multiple entry visas.
Announced this week, the new rule will allow Chinese nationals to travel between Australia and China as many times as they like within a ten year period.
Dubbing it a ‘major breakthrough’ for the local tourism industry, Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) CEO Mary Osmond said it will not only reduce processing costs, but encourage repeat visits from wealthy business travellers and tourists.
She believes the change, announced by the Federal Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb, will help spur growth in the tourism industry and make Australia more competitive internationally.
“The new visa arrangements announced today will make Australia more competitive internationally, with countries including the USA and Singapore already offering 10-year multiple entry visas for Chinese nationals.”
Mary Osmond, TTF CEO
China is one of Australia’s fastest-growing visitor markets, with some 858,500 travelling to our shores last year.
Osmond sees ‘enormous potential’ for Australia to grow this figure by tapping into the 200 million Chinese nationals predicted to be travelling internationally by 2020.
Image: Stuart Jenner/Shutterstock
“These visitors stay in our hotels, shop in our stores and make a huge contribution to our local economy, highlighting the need for decision-makers to place tourism at the heart of economic development strategies.”
Mary Osmond, TTF CEO
The announcement follows the introduction of the three-year multiple entry visas for Chinese visitors and online application forms.
“Together with yesterday’s announcement on international student visas, the Federal Government is clearly heading in the right direction on visa reform,” she added.
“It is fantastic to see the Federal Government listening to the industry and implementing reforms that support job-creating industries like tourism.”
