Expressions of interest are invited for Mandarin speaking tour guides from across Australia to take part in a Knowledge for Tour guides program to be facilitated by the Department of Tourism and Culture, Charles Darwin University and Parks Australia.

Successful completion of this specialised training package will give tour guides the required Kakadu Knowledge for Tour Guides certificate and boost number of Mandarin speaking guides available to guide tours into Kakadu.

Supported by a Northern Territory Government China Ready grant program, expressions of interest are being sought from mandarin speaking tour guides interested in pursuing a career in tour guiding in the Top End including Kakadu National Park.

An intensive four day training program has been devised which will include one day at CDU and two days in Kakadu National Park.

CEO for the Department of Tourism and Culture, Alastair Shields, said the development and implementation of programs to promote sustainable China market readiness was important for the Territory’s future.

“I believe that supporting our local industry to access the Mandarin speaking, Kakadu certified tour guides will give our local businesses a leg up, in getting China ready," Mr Shields said.

“This is an important grant initiative which addresses some of the key gaps in the market and allows us to grow our supply opportunities to support visitor growth from Greater China.

“As part of Tourism Vision 2020, Tourism NT has a target of attracting 30,000 annual visitors from Greater China to the NT by 2020.

“The Northern Territory had total visitation of 15,000 from Greater China for the year ending December 2016, which was up 18% on the previous year.

“When we compare this figure to the overall China visitation numbers to Australia, which was a total visitation of over one million for the same period, you can see the growth potential for the Territory."

Last year China was Australia’s second largest inbound market for visitor arrivals and the largest market for total expenditure and visitor nights.

This initiative is part of the Government’s plan to drive the development of North Australia and build a $2.2 billion visitor economy by 2020.

Media Contact: Department of Tourism and Culture 0448 698 409.