Minister for Tourism Margaret Keech today announced the first ever Chinese publication of a popular booklet promoting Queensland’s top tourism product.

Mrs Keech said the new Tourism Queensland Chinese Travel Planner was a crucial addition to the marketing collateral for one of Queensland’s fast-growing tourism markets.

“This Travel Planner is an excellent tool for further developing Queensland tourism in China and will be distributed to key Chinese travel trade,” Mrs Keech said.

“It not only gives a comprehensive overview of some of our most popular tourism experiences from across the State, but will also be available in both traditional and simplified Chinese, giving it even more scope.

“The booklet features close to 60 of Queensland’s top tourism businesses and will serve as a wonderful resource for Chinese wholesalers to understand more about all that Queensland offers.

“Ten thousand copies of the planner have been produced, and will be made available to all key trade partners.

“The planner is also unique as it lists the availability of the product in Chinese and whether that operator has a specific contact for the China market.

“In addition, it also includes product listings from special interest markets such as farm stay, golf and dive.”

Mrs Keech said the 56-page publication was part of the State Government’s rigorous push into the rapidly-growing China market.

“Chinese visitation to Queensland has risen enormously in the year and we are working hard, through Tourism Queensland, to continue this amazing growth,” she said.

“Nearly 140,000 Chinese visited Queensland in the year ending March 2007, an increase of close to 20 per cent.

“The detailed and market-specific information provided in this planner will be a huge boost in developing this market even further.”

The travel planner will become an annual publication.