Travelers wearing a protective suit walks outside Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, China January 7, 2023, as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts. A gradual restoration of tourist and student arrivals to 2019 levels may add 0.5% and 0.4% to GDP respectively, he added, given that China is the largest consumer of Australian tourism and education exports. On Wednesday, China signaled the end of a two-year ban on importing Australian coal, fueling sentiment that its restrictions on wine, lobsters and other commodities could be next to ease. The improved outlook has lifted Australia’s stock and currency markets with the Aussie nearing its highest since mid-September earlier in the week. “Perhaps the most important implication from the recent improvement in trade relations is that it reduces the risk of government-imposed bans/restrictions on services exports and paves the way for a recovery in both tourism and education exports from early 2023,” Kennedy wrote.
