Many second-tier Chinese cities, such as Shandong province's Qingdao, Hubei province's Wuhan and Henan province's Zhengzhou, have launched direct flights to Australia.

Meanwhile, Australia has introduced special training for travel-industry workers to better cater to Chinese needs. And it has produced multilingual brochures, maps and signage.

Cairns' Skyrail Rainforest Cableway in Queensland, for instance, has been providing cultural-awareness training for its staff, with annual refreshers. It has also printed Chinese-language signs and brochures.

The official tourism year's conclusion isn't an end but a new beginning, says East.

"The yearlong efforts have strengthened our relations with the travel industry in China and helped us to optimize travel products in Australia," he says.

"And we have confidence that we can maintain the momentum in the future."