Tourism Australia and Austrade had the opportunity to host the delegation in Sydney yesterday to highlight the country’s tourism investment opportunities through a program which included a Barangaroo site visit as well as a workshop and business lunch with industry.
A delegation of 18 members of the China Entrepreneur Club (CEC), a non-profit organisation of 46 Chinese business leaders and nine academic and diplomatic advisors, is visiting Australia this week to discuss business opportunities with Australian industry and government representatives.
Established in 2006, the CEC is the premier business leaders’ platform in China whose membership represents a combined net worth of more than A$750 billion or approximately 4 per cent of China’s GDP.
Tourism Australia and Austrade had the opportunity to host the delegation in Sydney to highlight the country’s tourism investment opportunities through a program which included a Barangaroo site visit as well as a workshop and business lunch with industry.
In addition to Sydney, the CEC also visited Canberra on Monday, meeting Prime Minister Abbott as well as Andrew Robb AO MP, Minister for Trade and Investment and will move on to visit Melbourne at the end of the week.
The CEC visit follows the announcement on 17 November of the landmark Free Trade Agreement between Australia and China, which will support increased Chinese investment in Australia/s tourism industry through higher screening thresholds for private Chinese investment.
Chairman Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda, although not a part of this visit, is Vice Chair of the CEC and recently identified Australia as a priority market for future investment, including investing in a $1 billion five-star hotel and serviced apartment complex in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast.
China is Australia’s second largest inbound market by arrivals and its largest source of tourism expenditure, which increased 16 per cent to $5.4 million in the 12 months ending September 2014 according to the latest International Visitor Survey results released by Tourism Research Australia.
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