A signed agreement between China's tourism body and six major Chinese airlines will see a boost in the tourism sector between China and Australia come 2017. 

The six airlines, namely, Air China, Xiamen Air, Sichuan Air, Hainan Airlines, China Eastern, and China Southern inked a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday as part of the China-Australia Year of Tourism 2017 program in Sydney that aims to expand the tourism sector between the two nations.

Like Us on Facebook

Under the new agreement, more joint initiatives that will trigger a boost in tourism marketing and promotional activities will be carried out. Furthermore, it will also add revenue for both countries, Luo Weijan, the director of China's National Tourism body, said.

"One of our key objectives is to add greater capacity and more routes between Australia and China," Luo said. "This will attract more Australian visitors to China and it will facilitate continued growth in a market that is currently generating more than $9 billion in export revenue for China."

He also added that the new strategy will strategically expand the sector, explaining that "Rather than six Chinese carriers competing to get a bigger slice of the pie, if we grow the pie everybody will get a bigger slice."

Statistics presented showed that Australia came in 13th in terms of foreign visitors coming to Mainland China. It has an annual record of more than 720,000 visitors, according to a report by The Mercury.

Currently, there are 13 direct flights between China and Australia with the destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an, the home of Terracotta Warriors.

China, on the other hand, is Australia's most important market for tourism. By 2020, the value is expected to surpass $13 billion.

Tagschina, Australia, tourism