Mandurah-China ties strengthened with officials visit

Thursday, 2 August 2018 10:29

By Taylah Strano

The Chinese Consul-General to Perth visited Mandurah with hopes to boost visitor numbers to the region.

The Chinese Consul-General to Perth, Mr Lei Kenzhong said he was looking forward to building a strong relationship with the City of Mandurah, during a tour of the local estuary on Wednesday.

The Consul-General said he wanted to work with the City to help promote tourism and investment in Mandurah.

Mr Kezhong and two of his staff were guests of the City. They were shown around sights of Mandurah including the deck of Reel Affair.

Also on board were Mandurah and Peel Tourism Organisation CEO Karen Priest, Adrian Parker from the Peel Development Commission, Mandurah CEO Mark Newman, Deputy Mayor Caroline Knight and Councillors Merve Darcy and Matt Rogers.

“We had a great morning and I think the Consul-General was impressed by our beautiful environment and the potential it holds for tourism from China,” City of Mandurah Mayor Rhys Williams said.

“This tour is just one of a number of familiarisation tours we intend to run for important potential clients.

“We will be doing this together with MAPTO.

“As a City we must all work together to promote local business, and tourism has the potential to be a major driver of future development in Mandurah – particularly now MAPTO will be placing more focus on promoting Mandurah rather than the whole Peel Region."

In July the City of Mandurah announced it would disband its current agreement with MAPTO, so the organisation could realign its focus to promote tourism in Mandurah.

A new four-year agreement between City of Mandurah and MAPTO, with plans to focus on bolstering visitor numbers in Mandurah, commenced on August 1.