Perth-China flights to pump up tourism

[V1213]

Saw this today, had a search on the forum and it doesn't appear to have been reported earlier.

Perth-China flights to pump up tourism | Perth Now

WA'S tourism industry is buoyant on much-anticipated news from the State Government that direct flights between China and Perth are about to take off. As The Sunday Times reported last month, Asia’s biggest airline, China Southern Airlines has today signed a co-operative agreement which could give WA direct access to the world’s biggest tourism market for the first time.

I assume this to mean flights to CAN - does that really offer any great benefit over Cathay's current flights to HKG?
PEK is the other CZ main hub so I guess that's a possibility as well.

 

[thewinchester]

I'm surprised that PER-CAN and/or PEK would deliver the numbers to make the route viable.

While I understand that PEK is where most of the population will go to, it really locks them out of potential business markets who would find PVG far more on account of it's manufacturing sector and supply routes/shipping.

It also poses another issue, being lounge access. They'd be the first *S carrier at PER, plus airside space is limited so they'd need to go affiliate access with either SQ or MH (I would doubt EK or QF would be happy to partner with them) to provide lounge access as part of their service proposition.

 

[sinophile888]

I would be so thrilled if China Southern ran day time flights in both directions.

 

[V1213]

It also poses another issue, being lounge access. They'd be the first *S carrier at PER, plus airside space is limited so they'd need to go affiliate access with either SQ or MH (I would doubt EK or QF would be happy to partner with them) to provide lounge access as part of their service proposition.

Garuda are supposedly going to join Skyteam in 2012 and MH already have a pretty established relationship with KLM so it's not as though CZ would be completely isolated in PER.

 

[cosi]

T
ourism Council WA offical press release follows:

Perth and China direct flights – a boost for Western Australia

President of Tourism Council WA, Paul King, congratulates the State Government for the signing of this momentous agreement with China Southern Airlines.

“Western Australia needs this exciting boost and the potential to tap into the world’s biggest tourism market is very exciting for our industry, said Mr King.

While the Minister for Tourism, Hon Dr Kim Hames and his CEO, Stephanie Buckland have both been in their jobs for a short time Tourism Council WA applauds their efforts in actively pursuing Tourism Council WA’s policy agenda to secure direct flights between China and WA.

At every opportunity, Tourism Council WA has been lobbying the State Government to actively pursue the China market.

“Direct access to and from China augurs well for the Western Australia tourism industry and the potential for new linkages between regional airlines will grow visitation into the regions, said Mr King.

“While the tourism industry embraces the potential ahead with this exciting new market, our challenge will be to ensure we are well versed in meeting the expectations and cultural needs of the China market, said Mr King.

No mention of frequency but with CAN as the home base for China Southern, one muct presume direct flights to this port from Perth.