- Memorandum of understanding with Ctrip, one of world's biggest online travel agents
- Paves way for regular campaigns with online giant
- Ctrip has 300 million registered members
- Industry encouraged to get involved
The State Government, through Tourism Western Australia, has signed a memorandum of understanding with one of the world's biggest online retail travel companies, Shanghai-based Ctrip.
Ctrip is a leading provider of travel services including accommodation reservation, transport ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management.
The agreement will pave the way for Tourism WA and Ctrip to work on co-operative campaigns to promote Western Australia and local tourism products to millions of consumers in China.
A $700,000 campaign will begin in late December 2017. Tourism WA ran a campaign with the online giant in June 2017 which resulted in 440 visitors and more than 1,900 hotel room nights generating $2.2 million in visitor spend.
Western Australia attracted 51,100 Chinese visitors in 2016-17 who spent $263 million during their stay, making China the State's second biggest market in terms of visitor spend and sixth for visitor numbers.
Comments attributed to Premier Mark McGowan:
"China is one of the world's biggest and fastest growing tourism markets, with destinations across the globe fiercely competing to attract Chinese visitors.
"To gain traction in this competitive market, we need to form strong partnerships with leading travel companies.
"The agreement with Tourism WA and Ctrip is good news for the WA tourism industry as it has the potential to deliver thousands of additional Chinese visitors to the State and, in turn, millions of dollars to the local economy."
Comments attributed to Tourism Minister Paul Papalia:
"WA is growing in appeal for affluent Chinese travellers who are able to travel further in the State, and are seeking adventure and luxury experiences as opposed to the budget group tours you often see on the east coast of Australia.
"We know WA has what these travellers are looking for in bucketloads and marketing partnerships, such as this one with Ctrip, are the key to spreading the message about what our extraordinary State has to offer.
"The State Government, through Tourism WA, is also working to secure more direct flights from China to Perth. Making travel easier and more efficient will help attract more Chinese visitors and help boost our economy through visitor spend."
Premier's office - 6552 5000
Tourism Minister's office - 6552 5600
