SYDNEY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- An unprecedented 1.02 million international passengers passed through Melbourne Airport in December 2017, with new flights to Chinese cities helping to support the record numbers, the air hub in the capital of Australia's Victoria state said on Wednesday.

The monthly figure broke through the 1 million mark for the first time and surpassed the previous record of 977,938 in January 2017, the airport said in a statement.

Two new international flights launched in December last year -- to Zhengzhou, capital of China's Henan province, and to Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province -- helped with the growing demand for global travel, the airport's CEO Lyell Strambi was quoted as saying.

"December was an outstanding month with great passenger numbers that reflect the demand for international travel in and out of the world's most liveable city," he said.

More than 950,000 Chinese tourists visited Australia and more than 540,000 Australians traveled to China in the first nine months of last year, compared with close to 2 million mutual visits in 2016, figures from the China National Tourism Administration showed.