Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in Beijing

  • Media release

I will host the Australian Tourism Ministers' Meeting in Beijing today as part of the China-Australia Year of Tourism.

This is the first time the biannual meeting has been held outside of Australia or New Zealand.

The Tourism Ministers' Meeting brings together state and territory ministers to ensure we work together to grow Australia's tourism industry.

The meeting is being held in Beijing so we can engage with the Chinese to attract more tourists to Australia. Growing this important market could deliver millions more tourists to Australia, which would drive economic growth and create new Australian jobs.

China is one of Australia's fastest-growing and highest-spending international visitor markets. More than 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in the past year, and that number is forecast to nearly double by 2020. These same Chinese tourists spent $9.7 billion in Australia to the year ending March 2017, almost a quarter of all visitor spending in that period.

At today's meeting we will receive a presentation from the China National Tourism Administration and Tourism Australia will give an update on the status of China-Australia Year of Tourism. We will also discuss domestic tourism issues such as investment in regional tourism infrastructure.

Today's historic meeting builds on the work of the Turnbull Government to grow tourism between Australia and China. Last year the landmark air services agreement removed all capacity restrictions for each country's airlines. This agreement is already proving to be an important enabler for tourism.

Australian Tourism Ministers' Meeting attendance:

  • The Hon Steven Ciobo MP (Federal Minister, Chair)
  • Mr Andrew Barr MLA (Australian Capital Territory)
  • The Hon Kate Jones MP (Queensland)
  • The Hon Adam Marshall MP (New South Wales)
  • The Hon Leon Bignell MP (South Australia)
  • The Hon Paul Papalia CSC MLA (Western Australia)
  • The Hon Lauren Moss MLA (Northern Territory)

Apologies (senior officials in attendance):

  • The Hon John Eren MP (Victoria)
  • The Hon Will Hodgman MP (Tasmania)

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