Australian businesses are increasingly travelling to China as hopes strengthen of an end to punitive trade sanctions.
Corporate travel bookings at Flight Centre grew 48 percent between the June and September quarters as China continues to open up from COVID-19 border restrictions and rebuild airline capacity.
Flight Centre Corporate managing director Melissa Elf said travel between Asia and Australia had always been critical for trade and demand for big businesses coming down under was ramping up.
“It’s no coincidence that the growth in booking numbers coincides with airline capacity coming back and more seats being offered,” Ms. Elf said.
The increase in business travel is also being driven by growing demand for in-person over virtual meet-ups.
“Meetings, events and conferences have also come back strong in the last three months and that’s reflected in these increased booking numbers,” Ms. Elf said.
Flight Centre’s figures represent a substantial share of the Australian corporate travel market with about 35 percent of business travel bookings going through the travel agency.
Beijing slapped trade sanctions on $20 billion (US$12.6 billion) worth of Australian products at the height of a diplomatic spat in 2020.
But Sino-Australian relations have improved since the election of the Albanese government.
After China lifted tariffs on Australian barley in August, winemakers and seafood producers are hopeful that similar breakthroughs are imminent.
China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian on Oct. 18 declared he was “optimistic” a trade dispute over Australian wine exports would be positively resolved.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas recently led a delegation of education, wine, agriculture, aquaculture, tourism and trade representatives to China in a sign dialogue between the two nations continues to grow.
South Australian Wine Industry Association chief executive Inca Lee, who joined the premier on the trip, said it was important for winemakers to maintain relationships with Chinese partners.
“The one-to-one relationship has always been very important, whether that’s us travelling to China or welcoming Chinese importers and visitors to our country,” Ms. Lee told AAP.
“It was very clear from the meetings over there that there was a very positive sentiment around Australian wine with Chinese consumers.”
Australian wine exports to China were valued at more than $1 billion (US$0.6 billion) before the tariffs were put in place but that figure has plunged to $12 million (US$7.6 million).
Retail businesses, which include consumer goods like wine and food producers, were among the top sectors travelling to China between July and September, as well as mining, oil and gas, education, manufacturing and construction companies.
There is still plenty of room for growth in travel between Australia and China with the international capacity of Chinese carriers in August 2023 still about half that of August 2019.
