The boom in Chinese travel to Australia has brought return benefits for local travellers, with new airline routes and discounted fares creating opportunities for the outbound market.
China specialist Helen Wong’s Tours believes Australia’s popularity among Chinese travellers has helped create a two-way street in which local travellers stand to benefit from new options emerging in the airline sector.
“With a growth in the number of Chinese-based airlines arriving in Australia we are seeing more China gateways opening up for Australians,” said the company’s founder and managing director Helen Wong.
“Who’d ever think that one day we would have direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Xiamen, Chengdu or Xian?” she questioned. “But that’s very much the case these days through such airlines as Xiamen Airlines, Chengdu Airlines and Hainan Airlines respectively.”
Wong said although enquiries for the traditional gateways of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou remained strong, other tourism gateways were gaining momentum.
The company recently created a new twin-city tour designed to capitalise on discounted dual-destination fares offered by Xiamen Airlines. The “Experience Xiamen and Macao” tour utilises the airline’s “One Fare, Two Cities” product and provides three nights in each city with breakfasts, sightseeing and English-speaking guides.
Earlier this year, Helen Wong’s Tours also released a China and Japan Bargain Escapes program for money-conscious travellers, including a seven-day A Taster of China priced from $1,299 per person twin share.
