Chinese visitors are staying longer and spending more money on their Australian holidays than visitors from New Zealand, USA and UK according to the latest research by Tourism Research Australia.

Chinese visitors to Australia spent $7.72 billion in the year to September 2015 – up a staggering 43 per cent and eclipsing the combined spending of UK ($3.53B) and USA ($3.11B) visitors.

Visitors from China also stayed a record 39.25 million nights – up 25 per cent.

“The latest figures from Tourism Research Australia just goes to show what an amazing powerhouse the Chinese economy is for our tourism market,” said Tourism & Transport Australia (TTF) CEO, Margy Osmond.

“On raw numbers we had 280,000 more New Zealanders (1.17M) visiting Australia in the year to September than from China (896,000) but the Chinese are spending $7.7 billion compared to $2.55 billion by New Zealanders – over 200 per cent more!

“Chinese visitors are cashed up and ready to spend big when they visit Australia and that is fantastic news for our tourism sector and the future of the Australian economy.

“And yet Australia’s share of the Chinese tourism market represents less than one per cent of the 100 million Chinese travelling overseas – capturing more of this market must be a priority for Australia.

“Tourism is well positioned to be one of the major economic drivers of the national wealth in the post-mining boom economy.

“That’s why TTF has joined with other industry groups to form the Future Economy Forum.

“This Forum is a critical part of making sure that government and our stakeholders have a clear understanding of the economic importance of the tourism and visitor economy.

“We need a holistic economic strategy to ensure that the tourism industry can reach its full potential and support thousands of new jobs and economic growth for Australia.”