Speaking in Canberra on Thursday at the start of a five-day visit to Australia, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang praised the relationship between the two countries, noting: “We need to seize the opportunities available and continue to expand our trade, instead of closing our doors.”

And tourism is one area where trade contacts between the two nations have expanded.

As Beijing and Canberra celebrate 45 years of diplomatic ties, they are also celebrating a China-Australia Year of Tourism in 2017. 

The number of Chinese visitors to Australia last year hit a record 1.2 million visitors, up a whopping 20 percent from 2015, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

During the Lunar New Year celebrations last month, Chinese arrivals to the country rose by 45.1 percent compared to the same period last year, totaling 166,000 for the month.

Foreign tourists to Australia spent 29.6 billion US dollars in 2016, a seven-percent rise on the previous year. And Chinese visitors accounted for almost a quarter of that figure, according to the International Visitor Survey (IVS), published by Tourism Research Australia.

“China is Australia’s most valuable tourism market, with the potential to be worth more than AUS$13 billion (10 billion US dollars) by 2020,” Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said at the launch of the China-Australia Year of Tourism.

“The more visitors we can attract to Australia, the more jobs will be created,” he added.

The head of the China National Tourism Administration, Li Jinzao, meanwhile said he hoped that two-way tourism between the two countries would further increase from the current level of 2 million visits per year.

To facilitate this, ‍Australia has expanded its 10-year visitor visa to Chinese citizens.

The two sides also recently signed an "open skies agreement," removing aircraft capacity restrictions on the seemingly lucrative China-Australia routes in anticipation of increased demand.