Tuesday saw the low-cost carrier, Jetstar, declaring that it is to commence its first services into Chinese mainland from December this year. It was forwarded by the airline that it will be from 16th December that the four weekly services between Singapore and Haikou, the capital of Hainan Province, will be started.

Jetstar is mulling to widen its present capacity from Singapore by 46 percent in the next 12 months, aided by the arrival of three additional A320 aircraft. China was described as clear focus of future growth by the Jetstar Asia and Valuair chief executive Chong Phit Lian.

Via a statement, Chong said: "Haikou is a very solid entry into mainland China for Jetstar and we look forward to the opportunity for further growth from this market should conditions prevail."

Due to concerns over A/H1N1 flu and the global recession, a fall has been noticed in tourist visa applications from China, by nearly 80 percent during the past three months.

There were 356,000 Chinese who visited Australia and spent a total of 2.2 billion dollars (1.8 billion U. S. dollars) last year.

It should be noted that 166,300 Chinese visitors visited Australia in the four months to April this year, just prior to the first confirmed case of A/H1N1 influenza in Sydney. This came as a six percent increase on the same period last year.

New Zealand, Britain, Japan, the United States and China were the five the top five origins for visitors to Australia in 2008.