Cairns Airport welcomed Friday’s official announcement that China Eastern will commence a direct service between Shanghai and Cairns from October.

Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, said the announcement comes after many years of discussion and negotiation.

“After several years of successfully operating Chinese New Year charter flights into Cairns from Shanghai, it is very exciting that China Eastern are now introducing a scheduled service with three flights per week from October this year,” Mr Brown said.

Cairns Airport thanked a number of stakeholders in the process including the Queensland Government, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Australia, Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Cairns Regional Council and Advance Cairns.

“This service will have an enormous impact on our tourism industry and our regional economy, providing direct access from mainland China, one of our fastest growing tourism source markets, and strengthening Cairns’ position as the Asian gateway to Australia," Mr Brown said.

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“So many Chinese visitors want to include the Great Barrier Reef on their Australian holiday itinerary and this gives them the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Mr Brown said Cairns Airport has already commenced preparations to welcome passengers from mainland China by installing multilingual signage.

“Like the rest of the region’s tourism industry, we will be undertaking further initiatives to ensure we provide our new Chinese visitors with an enjoyable experience, including developing a multilingual website.”