TravelMole couldn’t let Chinese New Year pass without a good news story about Chinese tourists in Australia.
Property company Colliers International says Chinese travellers are being attracted to Queensland’s Gold Coast by its year-round sunshine and attractive lifestyle opportunities.
And with two expanding international airports – Brisbane and the Gold Coast – close by, it is easily accessible both domestically and internationally, says Colliers.
China Southern Airlines plans to launch up to four direct flights a week between Coolangatta and its Chinese city hub of Guangzhou by 2015.
Tony Holland, Colliers International Gold Coast director of project marketing, told the Property Observer, “Within five years China is expected to eclipse New Zealand as the Gold Coast’s number-one tourism provider.”
While overall foreign investment in the Queensland has declined since the GFC, Chinese buyers have not been deterred, spending almost $107 million in Queensland’s property market over the year to June 2011, a 50 percent increase on the $71.5 million they spent in the previous financial year.
Colliers records 203 transactions by Chinese nationals in 2010-11 financial year.
Footnote: Cairns in Tropical North Queensland isn’t missing out. China Southern Airlines is flying seven chartered aircraft into the city this week.
