Local tourism's long road to China

A BOLD move has been made to try and attract more Asian tourists to the Pacific Highway region.

The Legendary Pacific Coast, the tourist drive that winds its way through the Coffs Coast as part of its 1,000 km route from Sydney to Brisbane is on show through NSW's largest tourist market contingent to China this week.
 
Representatives from The Legendary Pacific Coast (TLPC) are part of an international delegation converging on the southern Chinese city of Sanya in Hainan Province to win new business for the drive from Sydney to Brisbane.
 
"This is NSW's largest contingent to China for a five day sales mission," TLPC Chair and Executive Officer for Mid North Coast Tourism Belinda Novicky said.
 
"Our iconic drive is represented by Regional Tourism Organisation partners, the Central Coast and Northern Rivers, armed with The Legendary Pacific Coast Touring Guides, website http://pacificcoast.com.au/ and iphoneapp http://pacificcoast.com.au/iphone information.

"Recent ABS data showed visitor numbers to NSW from China continue to grow steadily with almost half of the 542,000 arrivals from China in 2011 spending the majority of their trip in NSW."

It is for this reason that Ms Novicky said that being in China this week is so vital.
 
"China is a massive growth market with an increase of about 23 per cent expected over the next year with Chinese visitor arrivals to Australia expect to reach close to one million by 2020," she said.

"This tirade delegation is part of an aggressive strategy to build strong links to China to grow and sustain inbound tourism."