据The Australian报道，澳洲联邦政府近日公布了针对中国公民的利好签证政策：将延长提供给中国公民的旅游签证到3-10年，与美国新出的10年旅游签政策竞争。

截止到今年2月为止，在之前的12个月之内来到澳洲旅游的中国游客已经达到877,400名，比前一年的人数上涨了18.4%。

澳洲旅游局的主席Geoff Dixon表示，中国游客占澳洲旅游入境的很大比例，而且也有不少人在澳洲进行了投资，而签证又是中国游客最关心的因素。因此，10年多次往返签证将会毫无疑问地吸引更多的中国游客。

The Australian原文：

Longer visas for Chinese tourists

The federal government has extended multiple entry visas toChinese nationals from three to 10 years to better compete with the US, whichis also clamouring for more Asian tourists.

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb announced thepilot multiple-entry visas for Chinese citizens last night, given more than 200million Chinese people are expected to be travelling to destinations such asAustralia by 2020. The number of Chinese arrivals to Australia in the year toFebruary topped 877,400, up 18.4 per cent on the previous year.

“Our research shows competitive visas are a big deal withthe Chinese,” outgoing Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon told TheAustralian yesterday. “Believe me, we need to be competitive. This 10-yearmultiple-entry visa will increase numbers. Chinese make a large amount ofrepeat visits to Australia, obviously some have invested here as well. It isbecoming so vital it is at our peril if we don’t embrace it.”

But Mr Dixon, who steps down on June 30, acknowledged thatAustralia’s $110 billion tourism industry was not ready for the influx ofmainland Chinese that started several years ago.

“Everybody has been shocked by the sheer weight ofnumbers,’’ he said. “But we really do have many of the things the Chinese want.They want a safe and secure destination, aquatic scenery, really good food andwelcoming people. It’s almost as if we planned it.”