Lunar New Year to extend peak tourism period - The Australian Financial Review

An extra Airbus A380 will ferry passengers to Sydney from Guangzhou, taking the number of daily flights out of the southern Chinese city from two to three per day.

Last year's celebration

Last year, the Lunar New Year fell in January, in the midst of school holidays which meant many businesses were at capacity, causing tourism operators to miss opportunities.

"What we saw last year was that the feedback from a lot of the Chinese industry was that Australia at that time was still in the midst of school holidays. It was more difficult to be able to place visitors and as a result they would look at alternative destinations," said Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan.

Mr O'Sullivan said the peak period for tourism businesses had been extended thanks to the fortuitous timing.

"You've just had six weeks of summer school holidays, this now gives you another week," he said.

In an attempt to capitalise on Chinese tourists, Tourism Australia has teamed up with mobile payment system Alipay and will launch an interactive map of Sydney embedded in the Alipay app at the start of Lunar New Year, as part of a 12-month pilot program.

The map is intended to help tourists navigate Sydney, offers geotargeted promotions and is integrated into the payments system.

A survey from Nielson in 2018 showed 93 per cent of Chinese travellers would likely increase the amount of money they spent overseas if mobile payment systems like Alipay were accepted. Alipay payment works with the CBA, NAB and Tyro.

For the first time ever, the Neilson survey found mobile payment had risen above cash as a preferred transaction method for Chinese travellers, with 32 per cent of all transactions abroad being made with mobile devices.

Traditionally, the Lunar New Year period of January to February is one of the busiest times of the year for Chinese tourists. According to Tourism Australia, 24 per cent of all visitors from China ventured to Australia during this period over the last five years, on average.

The number of Chinese visitors who have visited during January and February has grown 103 per cent over the last five years, with 170,400 arrivals in 2013 compared to 345,700 arrivals in 2018.

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