2017 marks the China-Australia Year of Tourism. And China's National Tourism Administration has just released a list of activities and events to kick things off next year. The two countries are hoping to lure more tourists from each other to boost two-way holiday travel.

2017 is set to be a record year for Chinese tourists going to Australia, both in terms of visit numbers and total spending across the travel and retail sector.

Several Chinese airlines like Air China, China Southern and China Eastern, have agreed to work towards increasing capacity between China and Australia as well as joint marketing and promotion efforts.

2017 is set to be a record year for Chinese tourists going to Australia, both in terms of visit numbers and total spending across the travel and retail sector.

To mark the Year of Tourism, a 6 meter-high inflatable panda and koala will be displayed at Darling Harbour on January 1.

"The number of Chinese tourists to Australia reached 637,000 in 2015, a five percent increase from the year before. We believe more Australians would be willing to travel to China in 2017, the year of tourism between the two countries," said Luo Weijian, director of Sydney Office, China National Tourism Admin..

The China National Tourism Administration says Australians rank thirteenth among international visitors to China, with more than 720,000 visiting mainland China each year.
In turn, more than one million Chinese visited Australia from July 2015 to June 2016 - up 23 per cent from a year earlier - and spent about $8.9 billion, up 27 per cent from a year ago.