Australia is implementing new measures aimed at further enticing Chinese tourists to come to the country as the government seeks to more than double the number of visitors from China to 1.49 million.

Andrew Robb, the country's Minister for Trade and Investment, said the "Code of Business Standards and Ethics", a guideline for inbound tour operators, was revised in an attempt to capture a biggest share of China's burgeoning travel market.

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The new code has been simplified to make it easier for tour operators to understand their requirements, and it also includes a demerit points system aimed at encouraging compliance with the code.

Robb said the code protects the welfare of Chinese tourists in Australia and ensures that their travel experiences in the country will be something that meets their demands.

"With Chinese tourists now our top-spending international visitors, it's important we continue providing the kinds of experiences they demand," Robb said.

The release of the revised code will also help promote Australia as an attractive and popular destination for Chinese tourists, especially those who are travelling in groups.

The Chinese government has classified Australia with an Approved Destination Status (ADS), which means Chinese nationals are granted approval to visit the country in tour-groups.

ADS, however, require that inbound tour operators must be first approved before bringing Chinese tourists to Australia and must always abide by the code set out by the scheme.

Tourism Research Australia said inbound arrivals from China could more than double to 1.49 million by 2022 to 2023. In the 2013-2014 period, Australia cornered 761,400 Chinese tourists.

"Maintaining quality, while reducing red tape is vital to achieving our Tourism 2020 target of doubling overnight visitor expenditure to between 115 billion AU dollars (US$95.4 billion) and 140 billion AU dollars (US$116.2 billion), said Robb.

Last year, Chinese visitors to Australia spent a total of 5.3 billion AU dollars, or around US$4.4 billion.

TagsAustralia Tourism