China’s largest outbound tour operator, Ctrip, will this evening announce that the Gold Coast is the fourth most popular destination in the world following a survey of 3.5 million Chinese consumers.

The award, to be announced in Shanghai this evening, follows a $15 million investment in the Mainland Chinese market by Gold Coast Tourism, according to the bureau’s chief executive officer, Martin Winter.

“For Ctrip, the largest Chinese travel agency, to announce the Gold Coast’s number four of all global locations as the most favoured destinations for Chinese travellers is a huge boost for us. There are over 50 million referrals made from their consumers plus 3.5 million surveys ere completed by Ctrip travellers, and the top 10 included places such as Phuket, Seoul, Gold Coast and the first western destination was Paris at number 12 and Sydney was well down the pack and there were no other Australian destinations,” Winter told SpiceNews.

“What it means is that when the 100 million people in China think about going on a holiday anywhere in the whole world, Gold Coast is very high on their consideration level,” he said, also confirming that 10 per cent of the 50 employees within the Gold Coast Tourism team in Shanghai are Chinese speakers.

“Gold Coast is enjoying its best year in the business events space not only incentives but also corporate meetings and conferences. We have had a record year and we are up 21 per cent, year-on-year.

“Gold Coast has now clearly come of age as being one of the two most favoured destinations in the country for incentives between Gold Coast and Sydney. People choose the Gold Coast because we have such a broad range of offerings and attractions. Gold Coast has the benefit of being a cheaper option than Sydney, but that is not the only reason why people choose the Gold Coast. It is because there is an enormous number of things that people can do, particularly for Asian incentives that are over five days long.

“Gold Coast is experiencing an unprecedented level of business confidence – the Commonwealth Games is clearly the catalyst for this and it is the target on the horizon, but there has been massive investment in infrastructure. There has been a number of billion dollar-plus investments in hotels and accommodation, and we have had stage two of the Light Rail that connects Brisbane to Helensvale all the way through to Broadbeach. Stage 3 will take it down to Burleigh Heads and then eventually will hook up the two airports with one seamless transit. For $10 you can travel right along some of the best beaches in the whole world,” said Winter.