Why USA attracts more Chinese tourists than Australia?

Did you know Chinese tourists spend more than any other nationality. And they spend more of it in the USA than anywhere else in the Western world. In 2025, over 3.2 million Chinese visitors traveled to the United States, spending an estimated USD 11.4 billion. Australia, with its sunshine and wildlife, welcomed just 1.05 million Chinese visitors that year. Why is the gap so large, and what can Australia do about it?

If you work in tourism, whether in the USA or Australia, this gap matters. Understanding why Chinese tourists choose one country over the other tells you a lot about what they actually want. And it shows you exactly where to focus your marketing efforts.

The Numbers: USA vs Australia for Chinese Tourists

The gap between USA and Australia for Chinese visitors has been wide for years. In 2019 (the last pre-pandemic peak), the USA received 2.9 million Chinese tourists compared to Australia’s 1.43 million. By 2025, the USA had recovered to 3.2 million while Australia stood at 1.05 million, meaning Australia has not yet returned to its 2019 levels.

Spending per visitor is actually higher in Australia (AUD 7,200 vs approximately USD 6,800 average for the USA). So Australian destinations are not losing on value, they are losing on volume. The question is why.

Why the USA Wins on Volume

The USA has several advantages that are hard to replicate quickly.

Brand recognition is the biggest one. New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco: these cities are embedded in Chinese popular culture through decades of Hollywood films, TV shows, and media. A Chinese traveler who has never visited the USA already feels they know it. That emotional familiarity drives first-time visits. Australia has stunning destinations, but the Uluru or Great Barrier Reef is not in Chinese consciousness the same way Times Square is.

Shopping is another major driver. Chinese tourists are among the world’s biggest luxury shoppers, and the USA offers better prices on international luxury brands than most other markets due to lower import taxes. New York’s Fifth Avenue, Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive, and Las Vegas outlet malls are all on Chinese wishlist itineraries. Australian shopping, while good, does not compete on luxury brand pricing.

Chinese communities also matter. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York have large, established Chinatowns and Chinese-American communities. For first-time travelers, knowing there are Chinese restaurants, Chinese-speaking guides, and Chinese-language signage reduces the anxiety of traveling abroad. Australia has its own Chinese communities, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, but the scale is smaller.

For more on how to position yourself in the broader Chinese outbound market, read our Chinese outbound tourism market strategy guide.

What Australia Does Better

Australia has real advantages that the USA cannot match.

Nature and wildlife are uniquely Australian. Chinese travelers place very high value on experiences they cannot have at home, and kangaroos, koalas, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Kimberley are impossible to replicate. Chinese social media is full of wildlife encounter content from Australia, and these posts consistently outperform urban content.

Clean air and food safety are growing motivators, especially for Chinese parents traveling with young children or older family members. Australia’s reputation for clean, safe produce is a genuine asset. Chinese visitors regularly comment on the quality of Australian milk, seafood, and meat.

Flight time from eastern China to Australia (around 9-11 hours) is also shorter than to New York (14+ hours). For long weekends or Golden Week trips, that matters.

How Australia Can Close the Gap

Australia’s tourism industry needs to do three things better to close the gap with the USA.

First, build brand awareness on Chinese platforms. Tourism Australia has made progress on Douyin and Xiaohongshu, but the overall volume of content about Australia on Chinese platforms is still much lower than content about the USA. More businesses need to be active on these platforms, not just the national board.

Second, make the booking process easier in Chinese. Many Australian tourism businesses still have no Chinese-language booking option, no presence on Ctrip, and no Alipay or WeChat Pay acceptance. These are not nice-to-haves, they are basics for this market.

Third, build more packages that appeal to Chinese group and FIT travelers. Chinese tourists to the USA benefit from decades of developed tourism infrastructure: Chinese-speaking guides, Chinese-friendly hotels, group itineraries. Australia has this in parts but not at scale.

Our guide on attracting Chinese tourists covers several of these tactics in more detail.

Key Trends 2026

• USA Chinese arrivals reached 3.2M in 2025, ahead of all other Western long-haul destinations.
• Australia’s recovery is slower: 1.05M in 2025, still below the 2019 peak of 1.43M.
• Shopping tourism remains the top motivator for USA visits from China, especially luxury and outlet purchases.
• Australia is gaining ground in “experience tourism”: wildlife, nature, and farm stays are growing search categories on Chinese platforms.
• Both countries are competing for Chinese FIT travelers aged 25-35, who plan via Douyin and Xiaohongshu and book via Ctrip or direct.
• Visa processing speed matters: the USA’s visa challenges have caused some Chinese travelers to shift to other destinations. Australia’s e-visa progress helps.
• Chinese tourists who have already visited the USA once are more likely to consider Australia as a second long-haul destination, making USA visitors a target market for Australian tourism promotion.

What the Experts Say

“The USA benefits from 30 years of cultural marketing to China through Hollywood. That is not something Australia can replicate overnight. But Australian tourism brands have a different advantage: they can own the nature and wildlife category on Chinese platforms in a way the USA simply cannot. The brands that will win Chinese visitors from both markets in 2026 are the ones that show up consistently on Douyin and Xiaohongshu with content that is specific, visual, and gives people a clear reason to book. Saying you have beautiful beaches is not enough. Show the specific beach, at the specific time of year, with the specific experience that is only possible there.”

Jon Wang, GMA Head of Digital Strategy.

How a San Francisco Tour Operator Tripled Chinese Bookings in 18 Months

Marcus Chen ran a small boutique tour company in San Francisco with a focus on cultural neighborhood experiences: Chinatown, the Mission, Alcatraz, Napa Valley day trips. His English-language tours were popular with Western visitors. His Chinese bookings were essentially zero, even though Chinese tourists were all around him in one of the USA’s most visited cities by Chinese travelers.

The problem was visibility. Marcus had a solid TripAdvisor profile and a decent English website, but he had no Ctrip listing, no Mandarin content, and no presence on any Chinese platform. When Chinese travelers arrived in San Francisco and searched for guided experiences in Mandarin, Marcus simply did not appear.

The turning point came when Marcus invested three months into building a full Chinese-language presence. He worked with a Mandarin-speaking travel writer to create a detailed Ctrip listing for his top three tours. The listings included: Mandarin tour descriptions, prices in RMB with clear exchange rate guidance, photos with Mandarin captions, and most importantly, a set of genuine Mandarin-language reviews from the handful of Chinese guests he had hosted informally over the years. He asked those past guests to post their reviews on Ctrip and on Mafengwo.

Then he made a Douyin account and posted six short videos: one for each major attraction on his routes, filmed during a real tour. He added Mandarin subtitles and a booking link in the bio. The videos were not polished productions. They were real, warm, and specific.

Three Chinese OTAs noticed the Ctrip listing within two months and reached out to add Marcus’s tours to their San Francisco packages. His Douyin account grew to 12,000 followers in six months, a modest number that delivered high-quality leads because the audience was genuinely planning USA trips.

Results: Chinese bookings went from roughly 5 per month to 65 per month within 18 months. Chinese guests now represent 35% of Marcus’s revenue. He hired one Mandarin-speaking guide to handle demand. His Ctrip rating is 4.8 out of 5, with 340+ Mandarin reviews.

The lesson: the Chinese travelers were already in San Francisco. Marcus just needed to be findable in their language and on their platforms.

How GMA Can Help

Whether you are in the USA or Australia, GMA can help you grow your Chinese visitor numbers. Here is what we offer:

• Ctrip and Mafengwo listing creation and management in Mandarin
• Douyin and Xiaohongshu content production and account management
• Chinese-language website development and SEO
• OTA partnership introductions and negotiation support
• WeChat official account setup and customer communication
• Market entry strategy for first-time China-focused campaigns

Find out more about our GMA China advertising services.

About GMA

Since 2012, GMA has helped 500+ brands enter and grow in the Chinese market. We work with hotels, national tourism boards, tour operators, airlines, and hospitality brands across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Our team operates across Paris, Shanghai, and Singapore with deep expertise in every major Chinese digital platform. We have run successful campaigns for clients in both the USA and Australian markets, helping them attract more Chinese visitors, more efficiently. We know the platforms, the audiences, and the tactics that actually convert.

About the author: Claire is a Digital Tourism Specialist at GMA. She has spent 6 years helping hotels, brands and destinations attract Chinese travelers. She writes about what actually works in 2026. Learn more at our services page.

Chinese Sources

文化和旅游部 (www.mct.gov.cn) is China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which publishes official outbound tourism data including destination breakdowns for major markets including the United States and Australia. Their 2025 statistical bulletin was the primary source for visitor numbers cited in this article.

携程 Ctrip (www.ctrip.com) is China’s largest online travel agency, with hundreds of millions of registered users. Ctrip’s destination search data and booking trends for the USA and Australia provide real-time insight into where Chinese travelers are planning to go and how they are booking.