Tourists jetset straight from Shanghai to Australian paradise

The first China Eastern Airlines direct flight from Shanghai to Cairns, the Australian paradise, touched down in tropical Queensland Wednesday morning. The airline is now running a direct service to the Australian Great Barrier Reef three times a week, making travel more convenient for Chinese tourists looking for a quick escape. Cairns currently attracts over 94,000 visitors from mainland China a year -- the number rose 27 percent in 2012. The January- February period during Chinese New Year is most popular, a Tropical North Queensland representative told Xinhua, and with the new direct flight from Shanghai, numbers are only expected to rise. "The Shanghai to Cairns route has the potential to bring in millions into this area's economy, and open the door to thousands of extra Chinese visitors into Queensland each year," said Jann Stuckey, Queensland Minister for Tourism. "I understand this new move has been very well received by the Chinese, with bookings reportedly doing well. "China has become our largest international market for tourism. We look forward to seeing our partnership (develop) so that we can increase access into Queensland, and ensure demand and popularity with this group will continue," she added. Sun Dali, Chinese Consul-General in Brisbane, also said he expected to see "more and more Chinese tourists" coming to Cairns, which he remarked has "probably the most beautiful natural scenery in the Asia-Pacific region." According to Sun, Chinese businesses are interested in cooperating with Queensland in the four pillars of its economy -- tourism, agriculture, mining, and infrastructure and construction. "I can conclude that our friendship will last a long time in the future to come," he said. To cater for the influx of Chinese tourists and be ready for a long-term relationship, Cairns has been doing its best to get " China ready", with bilingual welcome banners and local attractions recruiting more Chinese-speaking guides, said the Tropical North Queensland representative. "We understand the importance of tourism to our economy, and to communities such as Cairns,"Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney told Xinhua. "We will visit China many times in the years ahead to build the relationship we want to have with our Chinese friends," he added. Ma Xulun, Vice Chairman and CEO of China Eastern Airlines, said this is just the beginning of a stronger relationship between the airline and Australian tourism, with plans to extend the frequency of flights from Shanghai to Australia, and a new flight from Beijing is under consideration. "For us, the Australian market is very important. We hope that we can contribute a lot... for the benefit of the two countries," Ma said. "Cairns is really an attractive destination for us, we enjoy some wonderful attractions here, our two very favorites -- the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. "We think that (the Shanghai-Cairns direct flight) will boost the relationship between the two countries, economies and tourism in our regions. Today we have an excellent starting point and tomorrow we hope we will have a very bright future."