Record Chinese tourists
Twelve Apostles among top destination, but visitors want facilities upgraded
RECORD numbers of Chinese tourists are visiting Australia and the Twelve Apostles are high on their agenda.
But when they get there, they’re dissatisfied with facilities near the Port Campbell natural wonder, social media analysis shows.
Tourism chiefs are calling on Treasurer Scott Morrison and Spring St counterpart Tim Pallas to dig deep at the forthcoming federal and state budgets to bankroll work to upgrade facilities overlooking the coastal landmark.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday showed China topped the country-of-origin list for the first time.
Pushing New Zealand into second spot, nearly 1.4 million Chinese visitors jetted into Australian airports in the 12 months to last February, an increase of 13.2 per cent.
Great Ocean Road Tourism chairman Wayne KaylerThomson said more Chinese nationals visited the Twelve Apostles than Uluru.
He said the rock formation had been heavily marketed by Tourism Australia for the past decade with many Chinese jetsetters placing it high on their “bucket list”.
“These ABS figures aren’t surprising if you’ve been to the Twelve Apostles in recent years — it’s enormously popular internationally and that popularity is set to grow,” Mr Kayler Thomson said.
“At the moment, we have about 900,000 visitors to the Great Ocean Road per annum and that figure is set to be 1.5 million by 2025.
“That huge growth in demand needs to be met with more state and federal funding. The needs have been outlined through the Shipwreck Coast master plan and we’ve had productive talks at both a federal and state level recently.”
Mr Kayler-Thomson said tourism infrastructure along the Great Ocean Road, particularly at the Twelve Apostles site, was in need of significant modernisation.
“Visitors say they loved the Twelve Apostles, that the vista itself met expectations but the facilities around it weren’t up to scratch,” he said.
“We need to improve the experience for visitors and better monetise what we have, because the average spend is far lower than it should be.”