By Chip Le Grand

Copyright smh

While 411,000 Chinese visited Victoria last year – a figure 23 per cent up on the previous year – and tipped $2.9 billion into the local economy, these numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Victoria’s China Strategy announced by Allan in Beijing this week forecasts that by 2029 nearly 800,000 Chinese tourists will spend a night in the state.

The new campaign is timed to catch a wave of tourism that began at the start of China’s summer. The World Travel and Tourism Council reported in April that the number of Chinese taking international holidays this season was expected to finally surpass its pre-COVID mark.

Australia shut its doors to all tourists for two years during the pandemic, closing international airports to non-citizens between March 2020 and February 2022. Despite Australia being open for the past three years, the Chinese have been tentative about booking travel anywhere outside their own borders.