A Gold Coast tourism operator believes Chinese tourists are just part of the answer to rescue the region’s tourism industry.
Garry McKenzie, Director of Queensland visitor accommodation company Dreamtime Resorts, said the strategic push to lure more Chinese tourists to Queensland was not enough.
Mr McKenzie said government and tourism body moves to cement links with China to draw visitors here were welcome, but the Chinese usually travel in controlled packaged group tours and many of the local smaller tourism entities would never see them.
“While the Chinese market could be lucrative for tourism overall, marketing strategies should not just focus on one country,” he said.
Mr McKenzie’s comments come after an election pledge from Labor promised a $50 million injection to boost Queensland tourism with a special focus on chasing the Chinese market.
However Mr McKenzie said it would be short sighted to ignore the Gold Coast’s domestic and New Zealand markets just because China was the current tourism “fashion” favourite.
“The heart of our tourism industry is and always will be the serviced apartments, motel and camping ground operators – the people who cater to the mum, dad and the kids who have always been our bread and butter business,” he said.
“The statistics show a substantial part of our business comes from people who drive here. Our airport statistics should not be regarded as the only source of visitor numbers,” he said.
“Our international market is primarily fed from New Zealand and I don’t see China becoming our key overseas visitor source,” he said.
Mr McKenzie especially welcomed Gold Coast Tourism’s $1 million campaign to lure holidaying Kiwis across the Tasman, saying it was something he had called for numerous times.
“New Zealanders have a special affinity for the Gold Coast. They certainly embrace our lifestyle and blend in with everyone here. However I suspect the majority of Chinese would probably travel in controlled packaged group tours using specific hotels.
“The small operators won’t see them and the money they spend will likely stay within the high end, big ticket places,” he said. “They won’t be buying a pie at the corner store”.
There was a fear tourism chiefs would focus too much on high profile, bulk market visitors when the real need was to appeal to as many countries as possible. The Australian domestic market and New Zealand were the real engine rooms to increase current tourism numbers.
“Let’s not sacrifice our bread and butter markets to chase the big overseas markets. China would be very welcome but on its own it’s not going to be the saviour of our tourism industry,” he said.
“The key for our tourism industry is that people have to want to come here,” Mr McKenzie said. “We would welcome the Chinese visitors or people from any country but they should not be the primary target for tourism.
“We need to do more to attract different segments of all of the markets,” he said.
