Several learnings from the Australia trip – something I don’t know or not so clearly before the trip. Share with everyone.

Shanghai, the Gateway to Eastern China

I finally realized Shanghai is more important to international travellers than I thought. When I really planned my trip to Australia, we found out that Sydney is the gate way to Australia. There is Shanghai to Sydney direct flight, but no such flight between Shanghai and Brisbane, Gold Coast, not to mention the other attractions along the east coast. The Shanghai to Melbourne flight is not as frequent.

I believe it is the situation for Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou. Travellers must visit these cities first before they visit other cities. Since they are in the city, they spend one day or two in the city, just as we did in Sydney.

This helps me to understand why there are so many inquiries about from Shanghai to Nanjing, from Shanghai to Yiwu, and even from Shanghai to Chengdu. When I was put into the shoes of international visitors, I realized how valuable this kind of travel information is.

For me, Shanghai is a city. But for most international travellers, Shanghai is the gateway to China, (or at least eastern China).

Shanghai in the Chain of Pacific’s Coastal Cities

Just as someone put it in a brochure about Melbourne’s history, you can understand the coastal cities’ history better and easier if you put every single city in the background of international trading:

Shanghai, Hong Kong in China

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane in Australia

Auckland in New Zealand

San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle in the United States

Vancouver in Canada

Travel and Tourism are Still Different

Tourists are totally different from business travellers, or visitors. Australia has done a great job on tourism. They have great brochures, nice tourism information centers, nice public transportation and hotel pickup buses, and nice travel tours. They wrap up the attractions and points of interest in a appealing and convenient way so visitors are willing to go and spend $$$$ on it.

There is a long way for Shanghai to go on the tourism industry. I see I can do something to make Shanghai more accessible. Yes. “Accessible” is the right word for Shanghai.