Tourists are lured to the land 'Down Under' for many and varied reasons....
"Special history and stories here."
"It's on the other side of the globe for us so it's intriguing to see what it's like here."
"To fly from Bangkok here is cheaper than from Bangkok to Europe."
"My sister is studying in Australia."
John O'Sullivan, from Tourism Australia, says no matter the reasons, Australian tourism is undeniably flourishing
"It's easy to get here, there's now a new 10-year visitor visa in place for the Chinese market, we've moved to 'open skies' in the aviation context and there's been about a 40 per cent growth in airline capacity to Australia from mainland China."
It's been a gradual growth over the past four decades.
In 1976, just 500 Chinese tourists trickled over our borders.
Now, they're cascading.
Australia welcomed a record 8.3 million visitors last year, of which 1.2 million were from China.
Among the reasons for the spike is a series of targeted offshore marketing campaigns, costing more than $150 million.
Margy Osmond is the Chief Executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum.
She says Australia offers something for everyone.
"You will find high-yield Chinese visitors who just want to do the high points: the rock (Uluru) and the (Great Barrier) Reef, and stay somewhere very glamorous. Then other people who seriously want to do the back-packer track - and that's the beauty of Australia: we offer the lot."
The sector says changing visitors into revenue is a continuing challenge.
It's urging the federal government to reconsider the backpacker tax and the $60 holiday tax in order to maintain and even increase tourism spending.
Currently, the annual international tourism spend is just over $38 billion, but it's hoped by 2020 that figure will exceed $50 billion.
Tourism Australia's John O'Sullivan says Australia is reaping the rewards.
"Tourism now is really starting to take hold as an economic driver, particularly as we see a change in the resources sector, particularly as we see a decline in manufacturing, tourism really now provides an opportunity for the current and future workforce."
The Chinese market in particular spends more than $8,500 per person during their stay.
That's a figure the industry is determined to increase.
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