The top of the Harbour Bridge became the scene for three romantic seranades on Tuesday.
A group of Chinese visitors wooed their partners during what’s been dubbed the Karaoke Bridge Climb – where Mandarin-speaking climbers can sing karaoke at the bridge’s peak.
Tianjin couple Xiaodi Liu and Hong Zhu have been in Australia for eight years, and are approaching their 10th anniversary.
Xiaodi Liu told SBS News the sight of her long-term boyfriend singing to her was an extremely emotional experience.
Related reading
Prison reputation damaging Christmas Island’s tourism hopes
"At one point it nearly brought my tears out,” she said.
“It's just been so long. We haven't really said 'I love you' to each other quite often."
“I completely agree with she said,” an overwhelmed Hong Zhu said.
Couple Sheng Jie and Shu Xu have only been with each other for six months, and are in Australia on two year student visas.
But they said the karaoke-romance combination was a significant moment in their relationship.
"It's amazing - just beyond my imagination actually,” Mr Shu said.
“Yeah, it’s so amazing,” Ms Jie said.
These tourists are among an increasing number of Chinese visitors to Australia.
In the last twelve months, that number has ticked over the one million mark for the first time - closing in on leaders New Zealand (1.2 million). The UK, US and Singapore round out the top five.
Australian tourism takes in more than $35 billion every year. More than a fifth of that comes from China, at $7.7 billion.
Tourism Australia’s managing director, John O’Sullivan, told SBS News the income frome Chinese tourists has seen a rapid rise in the past decade.
"If you think back to 10 years ago - back to 2005 - this market was worth $1.5bn,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“It's now almost increased fivefold. Our research tells us that they love our blue sky, they love our fresh air, they love our natural beauty."
With Lunar New Year coming up in February, BridgeClimb tour leader Darren Moore said it was a peak time for tourism.
"Chinese [tourists] love this time of the year and this is a big event for them," he said.
"We've been doing them for a couple of years now and it just gets bigger and bigger each year."
Upwards of 180,000 people do the Bridge Climb every year.
Half of those are from Australia, the rest from overseas with Mandarin-speaking tourists the third highest group to do the climb.
Mr Moore believes that demographic will continue to blossom.
"Generally speaking five or six Mandarin climbs a day would go out, and generally speaking probably have about 10 people on those climbs," he said.
Tourism Australia has estimated that by 2020, Chinese tourists will generate close to $14 billion a year.
