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Sydney, July 14 (ANI): Australia tops the list of travel plans for China’s new generation of yuppies, or Chuppies, says a new survey.

Over half the travellers surveyed from mainland China said they intend to travel to Australia over the next two years, and their top three priorities are natural scenery, sunshine and beaches, and new places.

“Everyone talks about the burgeoning middle class of China and India and we’re seeing it actually happening; they’re turning up in good numbers,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Andrew McEvoy of Tourism Australia as saying.

“China’s gone from being a market barely in our top 10 to number four and rising, and there’s more capacity coming our way in terms of airlines putting more flights into Australia in the future.

“It’s currently worth 2.3 billion dollar dollars a year and it’s estimated that’ll double over the next six to eight years,” McEvoy added.

Martin Winter of Gold Coast Tourism Corporation said the results of the survey underscore the timeliness of the tourist strip’s decision to increase its investment in the Chinese market.

“China is now the second largest source region for tourists to the Gold Coast, with 106,000 visitors in the year to March 2010, but more importantly it is showing the best long-term rapid growth potential, with a 15 per cent increase over the previous year,” he said.

“The travelling cohort, which are these Chuppies, are particularly well suited to what the Gold Coast has to offer because … we are better suited than anywhere else in Australia to give them the fun element of their trip,” he added.

Visa PATA Travel Intentions conducted the survey. (ANI)