China to Produce a Travel Bonanza for Australia

China Southern Airlines believes Australia is on the cusp of a growth boom that will see more than one million Chinese visiting Australia for business and pleasure by 2020.

Executive Vice President of China Southern Air Holding Company and President and CEO of China Southern Airlines, Mr Tan Wan’geng, said the boom had the potential to generate $4 billion in direct benefits and $15 billion in indirect benefits for the Australian economy by the end of the decade.

“This will amount to a travel bonanza for Australia and Australians,” Mr Tan told journalists at a media conference in Sydney.

Mr Tan was in Sydney for a series of meetings and to attend Sydney Festival’s Symphony in the Domain concert. China Southern is a principal sponsor and the official airline of the three week festival.

Announcing that China Southern would continue its sponsorship of the 2013 Sydney Festival, Mr Tan said the airline intended to be a driving force for travel between Australia and China by increasing its present 35 weekly flights to 55 by 2015.

“By 2015, China Southern will carry an estimated 1.2 million passengers between Australia and China, around half of them Chinese travellers coming to Australia for pleasure or business.”

He said that as the largest airline in China and the third largest airline in the world based on the 80.67 million passengers it carried during 2011, China Southern aimed to be a major player in travel to and from Australia.

“Not only are we well placed for travel into China because we are based in the south of China at Guangzhou, or old Canton, we have also decided to launch what we call the Canton Route from Australia to the UK and Europe to provide Australians with an alternative to the traditional Kangaroo Route.

“This will happen in June, when we start three services a week to London Heathrow and increase frequencies on our long-standing Guangzhou-Paris and Guangzhou-Amsterdam routes, creating a convenient hub in our award-winning airport in Guangzhou.”

He said China Southern’s sponsorship of the Sydney Festival was its largest single marketing initiative in Australia, and came about because the airline saw Australia not just as a very important source of travellers to China but also to the rest of the world on its global network.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Tickets, China Southern Airlines, Australia