中国投资者押注澳大利亚旅游业

Port Douglas once drew personalities from Bill Clinton to Mick Jagger to its swish beachside resorts and exotic marinas on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Dong Run Group澳大利亚道格拉斯港拥有美丽的海滨小镇和大堡礁(Great Barrier Reef)游船码头，一度吸引比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)、米克•贾格尔(Mick Jagger)这样赫赫有名的人物前来度假。

But help may be around the corner for struggling vacation destinations like Port Douglas. Chinese investors, done splurging on the country's once-booming mining industry, are sniffing around Australia's tourism market in search of bargains. Their arrival promises to give a new lease of life to dilapidated resorts and properties stretching from Queensland state on the eastern coast to rural Western Australia.

但如今，这个海滨城镇的部分主要景点要么看上去已经过时，要么因失修而荒废。而这一现象背后的一大元凶是澳元汇率。过去几年，澳元汇率的高企促使消费者选择去一些消费成本较低的亚洲国家度假。

Many investors are betting on an explosion in tourism Down Under, particularly from China--where people from the country's expanding middle class are increasingly choosing to spend their holidays in countries that are considered exotic. Although Australia remains a relatively expensive place destination, more Chinese are attracted each year to the country's sunny beaches and unusual wildlife.

不过，对于像道格拉斯港这样境况不佳的度假胜地来说，情况有可能会出现转机。曾经大手笔投资、炒热澳大利亚矿业的中国投资者嗅到了该国旅游市场的投资机会，他们寻求逢低进场。从东海岸的昆士兰州到田园式的西澳大利亚州，中国投资者的到来有望让当地荒废的旅游胜地和房地产市场重获新生。

'Australia is an aspirational, bragging-rights brand,' said Don Morris, chairman of the Brisbane-based Tourism Thinktank consultancy. He adds: 'Just being outdoors with blue sky is crucially important to Chinese tourists.'

许多投资者、尤其是来自中国的投资者押注澳大利亚旅游业将出现爆炸性增长。中国的中产阶级队伍正在不断扩大，如今越来越多的中国人选择去那些具有异国情调的国家度假。虽然澳大利亚一直是消费成本相对高昂的旅游目的地，但每年都有更多的中国人被澳大利亚所吸引，前来享受当地的阳光海滩和不同寻常的野外生活。

Sensing an opportunity, Chinese investors have begun snapping up hotels across the country at an unprecedented rate. They're also weighing into casinos, a popular hangout for Chinese travelers, as well as experimenting with more offbeat attractions such as a China-themed amusement park.

总部位于布里斯班的咨询公司Tourism Thinktank的董事长莫里斯(Don Morris)说，澳大利亚是度假者梦寐以求的旅游品牌，有炫耀的资本。他补充说，走出家门、到海外享受蓝天碧海对中国游客来说意义非凡。

Nanjing Fullshare Industrial Holding, a Chinese conglomerate, recently bought three holiday resorts in Queensland, where the Great Barrier Reef is situated. One property--the five-star Sheraton Mirage--helped put Port Douglas on the tourist map in 1987 with its giant swimming pool, golf course, marina and mini shopping mall. Nanjing Fullshare also says it plans to build a 'Chinese-style commercial street' at one of the new resorts.

由于看到了机会，中国投资者已开始以前所未有的速度在澳大利亚全国大举收购酒店。同时，他们也在投资赌场，这是中国游客经常光顾的地方。此外，他们还尝试投资一些更加标新立异的景点，比如中国主题的游乐场。

Chinese media-and-mining magnate William Han recently bought Queensland's Lindeman Island for 9.6 million Australian dollars (US$8.9 million) after its previous owner, Club Med, closed the resort two years ago amid shrinking tourist arrivals. The island has 670 hectares of World Heritage national parkland accessible to the resort's guests.

南京丰盛产业控股集团有限公司(Nanjing Fullshare Industrial Holding, 简称：丰盛集团)最近收购了位于昆士兰州的三个度假村，而大堡礁正位于昆士兰州。其中一个度假村是五星级的蜃景喜来登度假酒店(Sheraton Mirage)。这家酒店曾以其巨大的游泳池、高尔夫球场、船坞和迷你购物中心帮助道格拉斯港在1987年荣登上旅游地图。丰盛集团还表示，计划在其中一个新度假村修建一条中国式的商业街。

And China's Dong Run Group last year purchased the Palazzo Versace hotel on Queensland's Gold Coast for A$69 million. The 200-room development--dubbed the world's first fashion hotel--boasts vaulted ceilings 'hand-detailed' in gold and a 'Very Important Pooch' package offering designer futons for guests' pets to sleep on.

中国媒体和矿业巨头韩子伟(William Han)最近以960万澳元（约合890万美元）收购了昆士兰州的林德曼岛(Lindeman Island)。该岛的前一位所有者Club Med因游客数量减少在两年前关闭了这个度假胜地。林德曼岛有670公顷的世界遗产国家公园可供游览。

Chinese money is also behind plans for a A$4.2 billion 'mega casino' and resort near the Great Barrier Reef hub of Cairns. Investors are betting the prospect of gambling in luxurious surroundings will help lure cashed-up Chinese tourists to Australia in growing numbers.

中国东润集团(Dong Run Group)去年以6,900万澳元收购了位于昆士兰州黄金海岸的酒店Palazzo Versace。该酒店拥有200个房间，被称为全球第一家时尚酒店。该酒店引以为豪的是全金色拱形穹顶，以及针对客人宠物的成套服务，即提供特别设计的蒲团供客人的宠物睡觉。

One Australian company has recruited ex-world No. 1 golfer Greg Norman to help woo Chinese investors to partner in a A$1 billion resort being created in Great Keppel Island, also along the Great Barrier Reef. Tower Holdings plans to build a 330-room luxury hotel alongside 700 villas, 300 apartments, a casino, and a golf course designed by Mr. Norman himself at what was formerly a backpackers' resort.

在凯恩斯(Cairns)的大堡礁附近修建一座耗资42亿澳元的“特大博彩场”及度假村的计划背后也有中国投资者的身影。投资者相信，在奢华场所进行豪赌的机会将有助于吸引越来越多有钱的中国游客前往澳大利亚。

Tower Holdings is seeking investment from a wide range of Chinese sources, including rich individuals, local banks, developers and government-backed entities, to help build the five-star facility. Mr. Norman, an Australian, will likely seek to leverage his profile in China as an adviser to the country's Olympic golf team.

澳大利亚公司Tower Holdings已聘请前世界排名第一的高尔夫球手诺曼(Greg Norman)招揽中国投资者，合伙投资一个耗资10亿澳元的度假村项目。该项目位于同样滨临大堡礁的大克佩尔岛(Great Keppel Island)。Tower Holdings计划在这个过去曾是背包客的旅游景点建造一座有330个房间的豪华酒店、700座度假别墅、300套度假公寓、一座博彩场和一个由诺曼本人设计的高尔夫球场。

Tourist arrivals in Australia surged by 10% in the 12 months through February, helped in part by a sudden pullback in the Australian dollar last year from historic highs. The number of Chinese traveling to Australia touched a record 748,000 people in the same period--up 16% from a year earlier, according to government figures.

为兴建这个五星级的度假村，Tower Holdings正从范围广泛的中国资金来源中寻求投资，包括富人、中资银行、开发商和具政府背景的实体。身为澳大利亚人的诺曼可能会利用他为中国奥林匹克高尔夫球队担任顾问的有利条件。

The sharp rise in overseas travel comes as China emerges from a long period of industrialization to become a mature economywith a vibrant middle class. If the current pace of growth in tourism continues, China may soon surpass neighbor New Zealand as Australia's primary source of visitors, brokerage Commonwealth Securities predicts. Chinese visitors are already spending more in Australia than travelers from any other country, government data show.

截至2月份的12个月中，澳大利亚入境旅游人数增长10%，一定程度上是因为去年澳元从历史高点突然回落。据政府数据显示，中国赴澳大利亚旅游人数同期达74.8万人，创造了新的纪录，较上年同期增长16%。

Australia ranked 16th among outbound destinations for mainland Chinese in 2012 while much nearer locations--such as the duty-free shopping havens of Hong Kong and Macau--dominated the rankings. For places outside Asia, Australia ranked only behind the U.S., France and close-by Russia, according to figures cited by Tourism Australia.

出境旅游人数大幅上升之际，恰逢中国走出漫长的工业化过程，成为一个拥有充满活力的中产阶级的成熟经济体。经纪机构Commonwealth Securities预测，如果旅游业保持目前的增长态势，中国可能很快超过新西兰成为澳大利亚第一大入境游客来源国。政府数据显示，中国游客为澳大利亚创造的旅游收入已是各国游客中最高的。

Chinese property firms are already capitalizing on the burgeoning potential. Greenland Group, one of China's largest developers, last year invested A$100 million in an office tower in downtown Sydney that it is turning into an eight-story boutique hotel. A five-star hotel hasn't been built in the city since Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games.

2012年，中国内地游客出境旅游目的地排行榜上，澳大利亚排在第16位，距中国内地更近的国家和地区（比如免税购物天堂香港和澳门）在排行榜上占据主导地位。据澳大利亚旅游局(Tourism Australia)援引的数据显示，对于亚洲以外的地方，澳大利亚仅排在美国、法国和俄罗斯之后。

For its part, the Australian government is hopeful that a resurgent tourism industry will help the nation get through a cooling mining boom that is threatening to end more than two decades of annual growth. According to global real-estate company Jones Lang LaSalle, foreign investment in Australian hotels from all countries reached a record A$1.9 billion in 2013.

中国房地产公司已经开始利用这一新兴的趋势赚钱。中国最大的开发商之一绿地集团(Greenland Group)去年对悉尼市中心的一座写字楼投资1亿澳元，将其改造成一个八层楼的精品酒店。自2000年悉尼奥运会以来，该市一直没有新建五星级酒店。

Investors from Hong Kong and mainland China together accounted for 18% of investment in Australian hospitality assets that year. The figure would have been much higher without the A$740 million takeover of Australia's biggest hotel owner by the United Arab Emirates' sovereign-wealth fund. 'Certainly, there's been increased investment from China but it's coming from a fairly low base,' said Mark Durran, a Sydney-based manager at the firm.

澳大利亚政府希望旅游业的复兴将帮助该国度过矿业繁荣的降温期，矿业的降温可能给持续了20多年的矿业增长画上句号。据全球房地产公司仲量联行(Jones Lang LaSalle)称，2013年澳大利亚酒店的外商投资规模总计达19亿澳元，创下新的纪录。

The rate of Chinese investment--and tourism--may pick up this year as the state governments of Queensland and New South Wales move toward approving major integrated casino-and-hotel developments. Tourism will be helped, additionally, by the higher number of airlines now flying to Australia from China. China Eastern, China Southern and Air China have ramped up direct flights to the nation's major cities in recent years, while Cathay Pacific has begun flying planes straight to Cairns from Hong Kong.

2013年澳大利亚酒店资产投资总额中，来自香港和中国大陆投资者的投资总共占到了18%。如果不把阿联酋主权财富基金斥资7.4亿澳元收购澳大利亚最大酒店的所有者的交易考虑在内，那么这一比例本应更高。仲量联行驻悉尼经理达兰(Mark Durran)表示，确实，来自中国的投资有所增加，不过最初的投资额很低。

It isn't just Australia's big cities on Chinese investors' radar. Wyong is a sleepy shire on Australia's eastern coast renowned for its picturesque beaches, lakes and wetlands. Soon, it will sport a Chinese theme park alongside a nine-story temple housing a giant Buddha statue, as well as a life-size replica of the gates to China's Forbidden City. The site is costing about A$500 million to construct.

中国投资速度以及旅游业今年可能回升，因为昆士兰州和新南威尔士州州政府有望批准酒店和赌场大型综合项目的发展计划。此外，目前中国飞往澳大利亚航线增加也有助于旅游业的发展。近年来，中国东方航空股份有限公司(China Eastern Airlines Co. ,, 简称:东方航空)、中国南方航空股份有限公司(China Southern Airlines Co. ,, 简称:南方航空)和中国国际航空股份有限公司(Air China Ltd. ,, 简称:中国国航)都已经增加了直飞澳大利亚主要城市的航线，同时国泰航空有限公司(Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. ,, 简称:国泰航空)也开通了香港直飞凯恩斯的航线。

Building work is under way on the holiday attraction dreamed up by Chinese-Australian businessman Bruce Zhong, who has already managed to win backing from a number of Chinese investors for the theme park, which is expected to employ as many as 2,000 people in a region where unemployment is 50% higher than the state average.

吸引中国投资者的并非只有澳大利亚的大型城市。怀昂(Wyong)是位于澳大利亚东海岸的一个沉静的小郡，因其风景如画的海滩、湖波和湿地而著称。很快，这里将建造一座中国主题公园，旁边是存放着一尊巨大佛像的九层楼高寺庙，以及按1比1大小仿制的天安门城楼。该项目建造成本大约为5亿澳元。

For now, Wyong's beaches may not be too high on the agenda of Chinese visitors, who for now appear to favor dining, shopping and gambling and tend to prefer to spend time in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Wyong's mayor, Doug Eaton, is hopeful that this preference will change once a regional airport is built, enabling Asian visitors to fly easily to Wyong from the bigger cities.

这个由澳籍华裔商人Bruce Zhong设计的项目已经开始兴建。Bruce Zhong已经赢得了一些中国投资者对主题公园的支持。建造主题公园预计需要雇佣多达2,000名工人，而这一地区的失业率较其所在州平均水平高出50%。

Ross Kelly / Rebecca Thurlow