China's Hong Kong Airlines increases flights to Queensland, Australia

SYDNEY - China's Hong Kong Airlines will fly two additional services into the Gold Coast and Cairns in Australia from December delivering an extra A$70 million ($52.86 million) in tourist receipts into the sunshine state.

Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and State Tourism and Major Events Minister Kate Jones in a joint statement said the extra flights would increase the number of inbound flights from Hong Kong to the Gold Coast and Cairns from three to five times per week.

"These additional weekly services have the potential to bring an extra 30,000 inbound passengers and combined with the existing service, deliver 59,000 seats each year," Palaszczuk said on Tuesday.

"Already we have secured more than 600,000 extra seats with the potential to bring in an extra A$480 million ($362 million) in tourism expenditure for our economy."

"That means more tourism jobs for Queensland," the Premier said.

Meanwhile, Jones said the extra flights from Hong Kong airlines came through the state government's partnership with Gold Coast Tourism, Cairns Airport, Tourism Tropical North Queensland and the Gold Coast Airport.

The additional flights provided visitors from Chinese mainland and Hong Kong with greater access to these two of Queensland's most popular destinations.