A mainland Chinese airline is studying direct flights to Fiji that could result in an influx of tourists from there.

Chinese ambassador to Fiji, Cai Jinbiao, said this would be a major contributor to Fiji's five-year target of turning tourism into a US$1 billion-a-year industry.

The Fiji and Chinese governments have already signed an air service agreement to allow both parties to go ahead with the necessary arrangements.

Last week's China Pacific Forum on economic development and cooperation was attended by several airline and civil aviation officials from China.

Visitors to Fiji from China currently have to travel through Sydney, Australia or Auckland, New Zealand, as there are no direct flights from the mainland to Fiji.

China joined the South Pacific Tourism Organisation-a move that came after China granted preferential tourism status to the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Northern Marianas.

In Tahiti, China Travel Service, China's biggest tour operator, recently announced it would invest in two hotels.

French Polynesia wants to open tourism offices in Beijing and Shanghai and the local airline, Air Tahiti Nui, is studying starting flights to Shanghai.

In Tonga, Chinese investors spent $4 million to renovate the International Dateline Hotel.

Roughly 3,000 Chinese companies do business in the Pacific, with nearly $1 billion in hotels, plantations, garment factories, fishing and logging operations.

China is building a 50-boat tuna fleet for Fiji - a reflection of China's interest in the huge fisheries of the Pacific.