WHEN Jodie Talbot took her sons Brayden and Kai to meet their "pop" from a Melbourne flight last week, she wasn't expecting to receive a free coffee table book.

But this is exactly what happened - presented to Ms Talbot at the Whitsunday Coast Airport by none other than Chinese billionaire Raymond Wang.

Mr Wang has spent $200,000 on printing 100,000 copies of the book titled Perfectly Paced, a bilingual version of the Whitsunday Regional Council, Whitsundays Marketing and Development Limited and Ray White Whitsunday venture.

In addition to handing it out to various locals and visitors at the airport last week, Mr Wang has also distributed copies to selected governments, universities, embassies, travel and immigration agents and businesses across China and South-East Asia.

Through a translator, he told the Whitsunday Times he saw the book as a powerful marketing tool to bring people from his native country to the Whitsundays.

And for Mr Wang, there are several positives to having more Chinese visitors, including his $300 million Chinatown development in the centre of Airlie Beach.

Mayor Jennifer Whitney conceded movement at the Waterson Way site had taken a little longer than she would have liked but said the development application would be lodged "very shortly".

Meanwhile, she described the book as a "brilliant gesture" and said the region was extremely lucky to have an advocate like Mr Wang.