Pacific

Chinese tourists the future for Pacific, says SPTO

14:58 pm on 6 October 2014

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation says Chinese tourists are the future for tourism in the Pacific.

The organisation is about to launch a new training website in Chinese, targetting travel agents in China.

The SPTO's acting marketing manager, Alisi Lutu, says since 2013 there has been an 84 percent growth in Chinese visitor numbers to the Pacific and in 2013 alone 98 million Chinese travelled abroad, spending more than 128 billion US dollars.

She says tapping into this lucrative market is very important for the South Pacific.

"The potential for the Chinese market and for chinese visitors to the Pacific, it's really huge and that is why we see it, it can also sustain a lot of our tourism, tourism industries in our Pacific islands, in the long term."

The SPTO's acting marketing manager, Alisi Lutu