Aussie restaurants start to use Chinese language menus to attract tourists

More Australian restaurants, cafes and wineries should offer Chinese language menus to capture a larger slice of the immense Chinese outbound tourist market, the deputy CEO of Restaurant and Catering Australia (RCA) told Xinhua on Wednesday.

RCA's Sally Neville said she has noticed that some Australian restaurants were offering Mandarin menus in an attempt to draw more Chinese tourists into their businesses.

Neville said savvy Australian retailers should begin to follow suit, following a revelation that a record number of Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2016.

On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said a record 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2016, making China Australia's second-largest inbound tourism market behind New Zealand.

"In destinations where there are already significant numbers of Chinese tourists, the recognition of their contribution is already seen. It's clear there is a (place) for translated menus," Neville told Xinhua.

Neville said she would encourage Australian restaurants, particularly tourist hotspots, to implement more strategies to draw a greater proportion of the not only 1.2 million Chinese visitors already visiting Australia, but of the overall 125 million Chinese visitors who visit overseas countries each year.

"Tapping into the increase in demand from the Chinese will make Australia a preferred location for Chinese visitors which will convert to spending," she said.

"The 1.2 million visitor figure is great, but there are 125 million outbound Chinese tourists each year, so ideally Australia will become better at attracting them and gain more than our fair share of that number."