CANBERRA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Attracting more Chinese and Kiwi tourists to Queensland is high on the agenda of a new tourism push by the state government.
Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor on Saturday launched a seven million dollars (6.4 million U.S. dollars), six month tourism stimulus package for Queensland as part of a broader tourism plan.
He said there will be major tourism marketing initiatives and the package included 3.6 million dollars (3.3 million U.S. dollars) for domestic marketing to encourage more Australians to holiday in Queensland.
Lawlor added one million dollars (0.92 million U.S. dollars) would be spent attracting Chinese visitors and 700,000 dollars (644,000 U.S. dollars) to encourage New Zealanders to Queensland.
"China is our fifth largest market with 142,000 Chinese coming to Queensland during the same period, and one with huge growth potential as people start traveling globally again in 2010."
Lawlor said 1.93 million dollars (1.78 million U.S. dollars) had also been allocated over the next six months to exploit tourism opportunities surrounding major events across the state.
