Australian icons showcased to nearly 4 million Chinese

The Australian Open and iconic Australian destinations areon show as a group of influential Chinese travel media explore Australia.

The media personalities and social influencers, who have a combined audience ofnearly 4 million, have been immersing themselves in famous Australianexperiences in New South Wales and Victoria over the last week.

Facilitated by Tourism Australia, Visit Victoria and Destination New SouthWales, activities included surfing at Bondi Beach, climbing the Sydney HarbourBridge, hiking the Blue Mountains, cruising the Great Ocean Road, hot airballooning, discovering Melbourne's hidden laneways and watching the world'stop tennis players at Rod Laver Arena.

These prominent journalists experienced some of Australia's iconic attractions,sharing their holiday stories with their followers in China.

Promoting authentic and personal stories from global influencers ensuresAustralia receives ongoing exposure and media coverage in key tourism marketslike China, and remains a desirable destination at the forefront of travellers'minds.

Tourism Australia's International Media Hosting program is one of manyinitiatives that support the Australian Government's ongoing Tourism 2020Strategy, which aims to grow international overnight visitor expenditure tobetween $115 and $140 billion by 2020.

China is Australia's most valuable tourism market, with Chinese visitorsspending over $10 billion in Australia in the last 12 months, up 13 per cent onthe previous year. Chinese visitor numbers have also continued to climb to arecord 1.22 million, just shy of our largest arrivals market of New Zealand,which saw 1.23 million arrivals for the period.

The Turnbull Coalition Government recognises the potential of China, asAustralia's fastest growing tourism market, and has delivered record funding toTourism Australia to fuel this growth.