Tahiti is in talks with a visiting Chinese delegation to develop trade and tourism projects in the French Polynesian island.

The 15-member group, which was welcomed by President Gaston Flosse, has been touring the island.

The head of the delegation for the presidency of French Polynesia Hiria Ottini told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat that its plan to raise hotel room capacity in the Polynesia has garnered Chinese interest.

"[In the] whole Polynesia, we only have 2,800 hotel rooms so this is really insufficient," he said.

"The president is thinking of building a very big tourist complex on the island of Tahiti of about 2,000 rooms.

"That means almost doubling the capacity of the hotel rooms in one project."

China's link to South America

Tahiti hopes to be a link between Asia and the South America for Chinese investors and tourists.

"There's a huge commercial bilateral commerce between China and South America," Mr Ottini said.

"Last year, it was valued at about $US 260 billion and they're looking also to build a despatching port and we feel that Tahiti maybe should play... a role in that.

"So we're also looking at a project of building a deep sea ocean port on the island of Tahiti."

The country also plans to develop an airline route between Asia and South America.

At present, Chinese citizens who travel to South America have to go via Australia, Europe or North America and need multiple visas.

"There's no direct link now and with our institutions, we have a visa-free transit," Mr Ottini said.

"We believe there's a big potential to have an air link between let's say Shanghai, via Tahiti and cities around South America."

The country also wants to position itself as a stopover between countries, with a new airport development the pipelines.

"Our airport was built in 1961 so it's getting a bit dated and we need to be able to offer more services to the airline companies who would be willing to come," Mr Ottini said.

"We hope that this will create enough activities for us and hopefully some people may stay for a few days to enjoy... our islands."

Mr Ottini says Chinese investment will create more jobs and create an economy that "will be able to go on for the next 20 to 25 years."