Chinese tourists steering clear of Australia

CANBERRA - Australia's campaign to attract more tourists from China appears to be falling on deaf ears: the country has dropped to 17th on the list of most popular Chinese international tourism destinations.

New data from Daodao.com, the travel website TripAdvisor's official website in China, suggests that Australia is being eclipsed in its efforts to lure Chinese tourists, despite a significantly boosted effort to do so.

Page views on the website suggested that between September 2013 and September 2014, as many as seven non-Asian destinations were preferred ahead of Australia by Chinese tourists.

The United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Germany were all long-haul flights favored by Chinese visitors ahead of Australia.

That news came as a surprise to Tourism Australia's managing director John O'Sullivan, who still believes Australia is at the forefront of Chinese travelers' minds.

"We know from comprehensive research we've carried out in China that Australia is No 1 on their long-haul travel wish list," O' Sullivan said on Thursday. "It offers the perfect combination of unsurpassed natural beauty and unique wildlife, as well as modern, contemporary cities offering great dining, shopping and entertainment."

But, O'Sullivan's comments are in direct contrast to TripAdvisor's studies, which showed the United States doubled Australia's intake of Chinese tourists in the past year.

The United States have attracted 1.8 million Chinese visitors since September 2013, compared to Australia's 790,000. And that gap is only set to grow further, with both the United States and China recently announcing a new extended visa agreement.

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