The advice comes after a media group from Changchun visited the south-west this week to produce a documentary on the region’s attractions for an audience of more than 13 million.

Warrnambool City Council Economic Development Manager Shaun Miller said latest tourism figures showed Chinese travellers could be a big boost to the region’s economy.

“China recently took over New Zealand as the biggest inbound traveller to our region,” he said.

“The Chinese spend is considerable. One Chinese tourist will spend as much as visitors from the next six most popular countries combined, and by 2020 it will be as much as 10.”

Mr Miller said small changes could bring big results for south-west businesses.

“By making little changes in their business like translating their menus into Chinese, local businesses can maximise their overall yield,” he said. “It’s important for the community to understand that the region’s natural attributes are appealing to the Chinese market.”

Great Ocean Road Tourism’s Liz Price agreed that Chinese visitors were making up a rapidly growing percentage of visitors to the region. “China is the region’s largest growing international overnight and day trip market,” she said.

The television and radio crew from Changchun were in the city as part of a three-day tour of the Great Ocean Road region.

Their tight itinerary included the Twelve Apostles, Tower Hill, Deakin University, Warrnambool’s CBD and foreshore and Flagstaff Hill.

Spokesman for the group, Zhuang Yan said, via his translator, that the south-west region offered great tourism potential.

“Thirteen million people receive our signal,” he said “Via five television stations and six radio stations.

“Seeing is believing, and Warrnambool is exceeding expectations and video means moving picture will connect in a really valuable way to showcase the culture of Warrnambool.”

Mr Zhuang said the city had many attractions that would appeal to his viewers.

“It has such good food, good people, good schools and university,” he said.

The media delegation were the guests of the Warrnambool City Council as part of the sister-city relationship established in 2012. 

Warrnambool City Council’s economic development manager Shaun Miller said the ties were beneficial for the region as a whole.

“This is one of the greatest outcomes of having developed the sister city relationship with Changchun, which is a strong manufacturing centre in China,” he said. “Changchun has an interest in our region as a tourist destination and a centre of expertise in food production and manufacturing.

“By showing the delegation the breadth of tourism offerings and the versatility of Warrnambool as the region’s hub, there is great potential to facilitate direct tourism connections between Changchun and Warrnambool.”

The group were also taking note of the city’s developments during their stay.

“Warrnambool City Council has shown us lots of plans for the CBD,” he said. “We will take these planning ideas to our own city.”