Three new travel agencies: Australian Lily Touring Pty Ltd, Grand Aust International Pty Ltd, Chan and Lam Pty Ltd have been accepted under the Approved Destination Status Scheme (ADS) to promote the growing $2.8 billion Chinese travel market to Australia.
'Only those tourism businesses operating with sound practices and high standards are accepted into the ADS,' Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson said.
'A high quality, authentically Australian tourism experience not only attracts our international visitors in the first instance, it encourages them to come back again and again.
'The quality of our products and services drives word-of- mouth sales that money can’t buy.
'The ADS Scheme is an important tool for both Government and industry to ensure quality standards are met.
'These three newly approved agents will join 44 existing approved agents to provide accredited tours to and within Australia.
'The ADS scheme has helped drive the significant growth in group leisure travel from China, with over 550,000 tour group members comprising around 40,000 tour groups travelling to Australia since the scheme's inception in 1999.
'We have listened to the requests of tour operators and what they need to tap into the growing Chinese market. We have acted on that feedback and opened applications to the ADS scheme on a continuous basis throughout the year.
'We have made a number of changes in 2010 to strengthen the ADS scheme which will continue to give Chinese tourists confidence in their tour operator and the high quality and experience of their tour.
'The Australian Government understands the value of the Chinese market and that is why we committed an additional $4.1 million to the ADS scheme over the next four years.'
Tour operators that are new to the ADS scheme will be required to undertake a specific ADS training course which assists in maintaining the excellent industry standards that are expected of ADS tour operators and the ADS scheme.
The Tourism Forecasting Committee has recognised ADS travel as an important element in driving growth in inbound tourism from China. By 2019 it is expected that international arrivals from China will be over 780, 000. This represents growth of 7.9 per cent a year over that period, compared with 3.9 per cent a year for total international arrivals. This will make China the third fastest growing market for Australia behind India (11.2 per cent), and the Middle East (10.7 per cent).
A full list of ADS Approved Operators can be access on the Department's website at www.ret.gov.au.