* Chinese tourism boom fuels rapid hotels expansion in Australia
* Lower A$ & cheap airfares lure visitors, 'big spenders' on the rise
* Construction boom seen adding to economic growth
* Room capacity set to rise by up to 30 pct over next 5 yrs
By Swati Pandey and Tom Westbrook
SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The hole in Australia's economy dug by China's dwindling appetite for its resources is being filled by the Chinese themselves, whose growing affluence is powering a surge in travellers in a boon to tourism income and growth.
Emboldened by the flood of big-spending Asian tourists, Australian hotel developers have embarked on their biggest expansion ever.
Tourism has already overtaken coal as Australia's second-largest export earner, growing at an annual 13 percent to A$47 billion in the third quarter of last year.
The travel surge is not new, but it is only now that visitor demand is pushing room and occupancy rates through the roof, encouraging hoteliers to make the expensive decision to add capacity.
"I have no hesitation at all to build new rooms," said Jerry Schwartz, who will open a 590-room hotel in Sydney under franchise for AccorHotel's 's Sofitel chain in September.
"Since income has got so positive I like to plough some of the money back in."
The new Sofitel, on the waterfront at popular tourist site Darling Harbour, is the city's biggest new hotel project since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Schwartz agreed in 2014 to acquire it from developer Lendlease for A$360 million ($272 million).
It is one of around 120 new hotel projects in the pipeline across the country, which will help boost room capacity by as much as 30 percent over the five years to 2021, according to Tourism Accommodation Australia.
Blessed with an abundance of mineral resources that have helped it extend a remarkable run of 25 years of uninterrupted growth, Australia's A$1.6 trillion economy is in the midst of a challenging transition away from a once-in-a-generation mining boom.
Now, as China's voracious appetite for Australia's commodity exports ebb, the nation has deftly positioned itself as an attractive destination for Chinese tourists - most of them well-heeled and eager to splurge on creature comforts.
The resulting spurt in construction activity - expected to boost broad economic growth by a half a percentage point over the next year - provides a welcome relief to policy makers who have been hoping for a revival in other sectors.
"Tourism has been a bright spot for the Australian economy, and we expect it to continue to add to GDP growth as 2017 unfolds," said UBS economist Scott Haslem.