China agreements a win for Australian visitor economy

Australia is strengthening tourism ties with China, under 3 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) witnessed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in China this month.  

Austrade and Tourism Australia are the organisations responsible for implementing the updated MoU between Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism on tourism cooperation.

This Australia–China MoU signed on 15 July before PM Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will:

• signal commitment to the Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme for group travel from China

• support collaboration in developing two-way independent travel, study tourism, business travel and incentive travel

• underpin a regular tourism policy dialogue between Australia and China. 

A tourism policy dialogue is expected to be held later in 2025. The last meeting was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism Australia also signed 2 deals during the Prime Minister’s visit to China, one with Chinese travel giant trip.com and another with China Media Group, to promote Australia to Chinese travellers. 

China is already Australia’s largest international tourism market by expenditure and growing faster than other markets, according to official figures from Austrade’s Tourism Research Australia (TRA). With a 26% increase in Chinese visitors in the 12 months to March 2025, their total expenditure reached $9.2 billion. 

eeger for employment and skills in tourism, travel and hospitality

There’s a new employment and skills platform for the visitor economy being introduced across the country. The ‘eeger’ platform has been developed by Accommodation Australia with $10 million in funding from the Australian Government through Austrade.  

eeger is more than a jobs board. It’s a one-stop shop for visitor economy employers, employees and job seekers, with information on job vacancies, training and career development. 

Launching eeger on 25 July in Sydney, the Minister for Trade and Tourism the Hon Don Farrell said eeger would ‘tackle long-standing workforce challenges’ for the visitor economy, while ensuring its future sustainability.  

Launch roadshows for eeger continue until 8 August. Austrade contributed eeger’s development through an advisory committee as well as managing the $10 million grant.