According to Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie, Australia’s tourism industry has to lift its game if it is to capture the prize of China’s new growing outbound tourists. The figure of annual Chinese overseas tourists had increased to 100 million since 2000 and was likely to increase again by the end of the present decade, said the head of the gaming company, which also has interests in Macau casinos.
However, federal and state governments and the private sectors had to do better to fully capitalise on and boost the present 700,000 annual visitors and $5 billion in economic value of that market.
Mr. Craigie said, “If Australia doesn’t get its act together it won’t capture a market share it otherwise would.”
In spite of the common message that Australia is a nearby regional destination for the Chinese, Mr. Craigie argued the tyranny of distance was keeping them away, with nearby Hong Kong and Singapore favoured.
Crown, which is chaired by billionaire and major shareholder James Packer, is eager to boost its share of China’s high-end tourist, high roller gaming market partly through a planned new VIP casino and luxury hotel in Sydney.
Moreover, Mr. Craigie said Australia’s travel visa system need to be made simpler for Chinese travellers including printing it in Mandarin and providing it online. Australian airport arrivals areas were not excellent and neither was training for the tourism industry while state government gaming regulatory and tax settings should be made more “competitive”.
