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If you're booking hotel rooms, an Airbnb, opera tickets or a hire car overseas, try and pay in their local currency rather than Aussie dollars, the exchange rate they use is often not in your favour.
THE BIG ISSUE: The rise of Chinese Airlines
Just in case you haven't been near the Gold Coast or the Sydney Opera House in recent times, tourists from the People's Republic of China are flooding in. Bringing them here is an ever-increasing number of Chinese carriers. There are now seven China-based carriers serving Australian cities, offering non-stop services from at least one Australian city to more than 10 cities in China, with more on the radar. Driving this push from Chinese airlines into Australia's airspace is the rise and rise of Chinese tourism. In the year ending June 30, 2016, Australia had 1.136 million visitors from China, 22 per cent more than the previous year. Chinese airlines are also highly competitive. Chinese carriers regularly show up on flight search engines if you're looking for the cheapest fares to Europe, and low fares put pressure on other airlines to keep prices subdued. Despite the attractive prices, the Chinese carriers are not the first to spring to mind for most Australians considering a trip to Europe. One problem is the perception of a lesser safety record, yet according to Germany's Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, Hainan Airlines sits in sixth position on the JACDEC Airline Safety Ranking for 2016, well ahead of Qantas. Sichuan Airlines and China Eastern both rank above Air France, American Airlines and Korean Air. Another positive, the Chinese carriers open a new array of stopover options. Shanghai and Beijing need no introduction but some of the lesser-known Chinese cities such as Xiamen, Kunming and Qingdao will show you a very different side of the People's Republic.