Flights from Guangzhou to Cairns from December

From December 2017 China Southern Airlines will be offering year round flights between Guangzhou and Cairns, Australia. While the northern Queensland city had previously been served by a seasonal charter China Southern service to Guangzhou, the new route will come before the end of the China-Australia Year of Tourism 2017 and in the wake of the bilateral open skies agreement between Australia and China that was signed in December 2016.

The new connection will be served by three flights per week and is expected to serve 33,000 passengers per year. The three-year deal between the airline, the Queensland government, Cairns airport and Tourism tropical Queensland, was two and a half years in the making and is financed by the State Government’s Connecting with Asia fund.

Cairns Airport chief executive Norris Carter believed that the route could a boost that could be worth as much as AUD 44.2 million (ca. USD 33.6 million) to the local economy, generating as many as 300 jobs for the region. Highlighting the fact that the direct link would allow travellers from China to spend more time in the area, Carter emphasised:

“The service will also open up new opportunities for our region’s high-quality primary produce to be exported to China, tapping into this enormous market through the China Australia Free Trade Agreement.”

Local state Member of Parliament Craig Crawford also emphasised the boost that the city would receive from the Chinese outbound tourism market, adding that the service would: “remove the complexity of connecting flights, which puts Cairns on a competitive pegging with destinations like Hawaii and Bali.”

In Australia, China Southern also flies to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth from Guangzhou and to Melbourne and Sydney from both Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute provides expert insights into the worldwide developments of China’s outbound tourism market. As Chinese outbound tourists are travelling to a large range of destinations, our publications cover a number of regions, providing detailed insights and analysing visitor behaviour.

With COTRI’s insights you can forge a successful business strategy built upon in-depth market expertise, comprehensive qualitative analysis and future projections. The Spring 2017 Edition of the COTRI Market report features in-depth exploration of the developing trends in the field, supported by a wealth of qualitative and quantitative statistical research.

Sources: Australian Aviation, Cairns Post

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