China Outbound Daily: Direct flights from China & deals with tourism bodies

Editor’s note: We’ve recently started a new daily roundup of news affecting outbound business, for countries trying to attract Chinese travelers. Follow all news from ChinaOB Daily, here.

• China Eastern Airlines partners with New South Wales tourism: China Eastern Airlines has partnered with an Australian government tourism agency to promote travel to Sydney and the state of New South Wales (NSW) from Nanjing in China. Four new travel packages have been created by Destination NSW to entice Chinese visitors to explore the state from a Sydney base- – with Sydney the destination for 97 percent of visitors to NSW from China.
• Tourism Australia strikes deal with Air China: The three-year agreement, signed yesterday in Beijing, will see the launch of joint marketing while TA will provide training to Air China and its agents. TA managing director Andrew McEvoy said it will further build on Australia’s efforts to develop the Chinese market.
• Delta Airlines launches Seattle-Shanghai direct flights: Delta Airlines held the Shanghai – Seattle maiden flight ceremony on June 18th. The airline will run daily flights on the new route. The first flight is planned for July 17, 2013 from Seattle to Shanghai.
• Air China starts Beijing-Geneva flights: Before Air China commenced Beijing-Geneva rotations, Geneva had never been linked by nonstop flights with Beijing and even the entire East Asia, and thus Chinese travelers bound for Geneva had to make transfers elsewhere.
• Malaysian island to build more programs to attract Chinese visitors: Johor hopes to tap on China’s growing tourist market by offering attractive packages to the state especially its sandy beaches and islands.
• Promoting Britain to Chinese tourists requires a lot more: If Britain does not take active measures like joining the Schengen Agreement to improve its current situation, it will lose the tourism race with France, Germany, Italy and other European countries. And the British tourism industry will suffer a loss of 1.5 billion dollars every year due to its deficiency of Chinese tourists who carry with them huge purchasing power.