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Tourism experts suggest some "zero-dollar" tourists may visit Australia, but it is not a low-cost destination like Thailand and Bali. Chinese visitor numbers to Australia have grown by 13% in the past 12 months to 1.4 million tourists who spent AU.9 billion, according to Tourism Australia. Chinese tourists are big spenders too, spending more than USD 8,000 on a trip to Australia compared to an average of USD 5,000 by international visitors. Top hotels have adapted to Chinese travellers by including congee on breakfast menus, Chinese-speaking staff and "bottled and hot drinking water as they are mindful of water quality", according to Simon McGrath, the chief operating officer (Pacific) of AccorHotels. "Chinese travellers like dedicated check-in and check-out areas as well as private meeting areas in the hotel and smoking areas outside hotels." He also said Chinese tourists had a strong desire to stay close to key tourism activities, shopping areas and casinos. Mr McGrath said there was also growth in niche markets such as golfers, honeymooners who travelled for post-wedding photo shoots and investors looking to purchase property. "The luxury Chinese traveller is ready to spend however, Australian businesses often miss opportunities to increase revenue as they are unable to cater for Chinese payment methods such as Alipay and UnionPay," he said.
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