The Country Liberals Government has taken a major step forward in attracting more Chinese visitors to the Territory, signing an historic Memorandum of Understanding with one of China’s largest travel companies.
Chief Minister and Tourism Minister Adam Giles said this MOU will provide the Northern Territory with unprecedented access to potential visitors from China.
“The China Travel Service (CTS) is one of the largest travel groups in China with 500 branches, and CTS Australia is the largest Chinese travel company in Australia,” Mr Giles said.
“The MOU is a highly strategic move in our efforts to obtain a larger slice of the China market.
“As part of Tourism Vision 2020, the Country Liberals Government has a target of attracting 30,000 annual visitors from Greater China to the NT by 2020.
“The Country Liberals Government are on track to easily smash that target before the deadline, and having CTS on board will help us reach this target even sooner.
“In 2015, China was Australia’s second largest inbound market for visitor arrivals and the largest market for total expenditure and visitor nights, with visitors spending $8.3 billion.
“We want a larger share of this market and the MOU will give the Territory a direct link into China to target this market.”
Benefits of the MOU to the Northern Territory will be infinite, Chief Minister Adam Giles said.
“I have been lobbying Chinese airlines to establish direct flights to Darwin, so with active encouragement by CTS to Chinese airline carriers, we are one step closer to securing this,” Mr Giles said.
Other benefits to Northern Territory through this cooperative arrangement include:
o Access to CTS’ customer database by Tourism NT to promote holiday packages to the Northern Territory;
o Northern Territory themed stores;
o Northern Territory advertising on CTS tour buses;
o Sourcing and exploration of tourism investment opportunities for accommodation, leisure, education and local attractions in the Territory by CTS
o Recommendations by CTS to Chinese investors to participate in the infrastructure investment in Northern Territory and invitations to Tourism NT to attend investment related meetings/forums in China and provide update information about investment opportunities.
The MOU will begin on 1 August 2016 and conclude on 30 June 2018.
Chief Minister Adam Giles said the Country Liberals Government has been working hard to attract more Chinese visitors to the Northern Territory.
“More than a million Chinese tourists are coming to Australia and this market is highly competitive,” Mr Giles said.
“The Country Liberals Government will deliver a wave of Chinese tourists to the Territory in the next twelve months and we need to ensure Territory experiences meet the expectations of the Chinese tourist.
“We have been working closely with industry to make tourism businesses in the Territory ‘China-ready’.”
Over $300,000 has been provided as part of the Tourism Infrastructure Development Fund to assist with China related projects.
· ATrip NT – Develop and promote a Chinese cultural training hub (‘the Hub’) at Berrimah Business Park – $95,500;
· Australian Tourist Publications (one of the largest publishers of tourism magazines in Australia) – create a 48-page ‘Welcome to the Northern Territory’ booklet, ebook and map translated into simplified Chinese – $40,909;
· China Blueprint (a consultancy that helps organisations in the food, tourism and lifestyle industries to grow their business by tapping into the burgeoning Chinese market) – Develop a Chinese website, titled ‘Explore the NT’, for Northern Territory tourism operators to promote their products directly to the Chinese market – $10,000;
· China Sees NT – Develop a multi-lingual website promoting tourism in the Northern Territory and featuring images and video from visitors – $14,988;
· City of Darwin Cruises – Complete the development of three websites (City of Darwin Cruises, Discover Darwin Harbour, and SeeDarwin) available in over 20 languages, including Chinese – $14,988;
· Darwin History and Wartime Experience – Develop a website that is available in English and Mandarin, and install a metal roof on the tour vehicle for weather protection – $8,896;
· George Photography – Developing a luxury experience in partnership with local tourism operators for newly engaged Chinese couples that includes high quality accommodation, various tourism experiences, a pre-wedding photo shoot for this growing genre, and a tri-lingual website (Cantonese, English, and Mandarin) – $40,000;
· Nautilus Aviation – Construction of check-in facility, kiosk, storeroom and showroom; purchase of mountain bikes for visitor hire and production of brochures targeting the Chinese market for new scenic helicopter flights from Charles Darwin National Park – $46,250;
· North Tours Australia – Develop a map (translated into Cantonese and Mandarin), a self-drive guidebook (translated), promotional video and NT tourism app (translated) – $33,500;
· Palya Art – provision of Mandarin translations of all printed and online marketing material – $8,995;
· Spinway NT – install four further bike stations in Katherine and Alice Springs, and make instructions available in Chinese – $49,000.
This initiative is part of the Government’s plan to drive the development of North Australia and build a $2.2 billion visitor economy by 2020.
