The Minister will travel to Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Southern China.

Minister Moss will be joined by Ms Valerie Smith, General Manager, Destination Development, Tourism NT, Mr Alastair Shields, Chief Executive Office, Dept. of Tourism & Culture, Mr Michael Tennant, Chief Executive Officer, Trade, Business & Innovation, Ian Kew, Chief Executive Officer, Darwin International Airport and Matthew Findlay, Head of Aviation Development, Darwin International Airport.

“The NT Government continues to focus on growing Chinese tourism to support tourism businesses and create local jobs,” Minister Moss said.

“Pursuing flights from China was an election commitment for this Government and we will continue to actively work to make this a reality. Delivering on our promises is one of the ways in which we are restoring trust in government.

“We are investing $5 million over two years to attract more visitors to the Territory from China and India.

“This includes working with local operators to get ‘China ready’ by investing in our tourism infrastructure, providing Mandarin tour guides with the qualifications they need to lead groups through the NT and assisting hotels and accommodation providers provide translated, culturally-appropriate tourism material,” Minister Moss said.

“This is on top of maintaining our marketing activity in our key traditional markets.

“Tourism is a key economic driver for the Territory, it pumps close to $2 billion into the economy every year and provides employment, directly or indirectly, for more than 15,000 people.”