Tourist visa reforms for Chinese an investment, says James Packer

April, 24, 2014

Crown casinos boss James Packer has said Australian visa requirements for Chinese tourists “stupid”, arguing more wealthy Chinese visitors to Australia could benefit the tourism sector.

Packer said: “The visa processing system for Chinese tourists has improved recently, but there is more work to do in this area and each day we waste costs Australia a great amount of tourism dollars.

“Visa applications are done in English, not Mandarin, that’s stupid. And they are not done online, that’s stupid.”

There is no doubt Packer’s agenda is to benefit his casinos — just less than half of Crown casino’s $2.8 billion revenue last financial year came from Chinese tourists — but he also believes it would could create tens of thousands of new jobs in Australian tourism.

Packer will join Prime Minister Tony Abbott next week in Japan and China for further talks on trade deals.

Business Insider

Video Story

Stock Market

Exchange Rates