As Australia enters a new golden age of tourism underpinned by the staggering rise in the number of Chinese visitors to our shores, the dawn of the new Lunar Year today looks set to provide a significant windfall to Australia’s visitor economy, the Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (TTF) said today.

TTF Chief Executive Margy Osmond said that the Chinese inbound visitor market is likely to continue its record-breaking run this Lunar New Year with an estimated additional 80,000 Chinese visitors expected to fly to Australia to join in the celebrations.

“With China set to overtake New Zealand for the first time as our largest source of inbound tourists any day now, perhaps we should be calling 2018 the Year of the Dingo to reflect the incredible contribution Chinese visitors have on our booming visitor economy,” Ms Osmond said.

“Of the estimated 200,000 Chinese travellers visiting Australia this month, we expect that more than 80,000 will be coming especially for the Lunar New Year celebrations.

“This is fantastic news for our visitor economy, because not only are the Chinese an inch away from being our biggest source market, but they are far and away the highest spending of all nationalities visiting Australia.

“Chinese New Year is an absolute gold mine for Australia’s visitor economy and contributes a significant amount of the $10 billion Chinese visitors spend here every year.

“Right across Australia, our cities and towns are set to embrace the unique spectacle of Chinese New Year by hosting a celebration over the course of the 15 day festival.

“Now in its 22nd year, Sydney’s official Lunar New Year celebrations are considered to be the biggest outside mainland China, while Melbourne and Brisbane are expected to see tens of thousands of Chinese visitors take part in the incredible range of events on offer.

“There is no doubt that China’s blossoming love-affair with Australia is one of the biggest long-term tourism opportunities we will ever see and in this Year of the Dingo, all Australians should embrace the incredible contribution China has made to both our national landscape and to our visitor economy.”