ADELAIDE - Panda-mania is coming to Adelaide.

It could be bigger than Lance Armstrong's comeback to professional cycling in the state earlier this year and even the appearance of Tiger Woods at golf's Australian Masters.

The arrival of two giant pandas at the Adelaide Zoo this weekend is expected to provide a A$600 million ($775.09m) boost to the local economy over the next 10 years, including millions in tourism, new jobs and merchandising.

But it is also a gesture of major significance, at a time when relations between Australia and China are under stress.

More importantly, it will focus international attention on Adelaide for months, if not years, local officials say.

And if a panda baby results from local breeding efforts, which could be as early as 2011 if all goes well, then international interest will simply "explode".

Not bad for a couple of cute black and white bears who spend most of their day either eating or sleeping.

Four-year-old Wang Wang and three-year-old Funi are due to arrive in Adelaide on Saturday after the trip from their home at the Panda Protection and Research Centre at Ya'an.

Travelling with them will be Chinese keepers and vets as well as Adelaide Zoo keepers who have been getting to know the animals over the past few weeks.

They will spend the next month in quarantine, ensconced inside a new $8 million panda enclosure which includes some innovative features, such as refrigerated rocks, to ensure the couple can handle the heat of an Australian summer.

Their first public appearance comes on December 13, when Governor-General Quentin Bryce officially opens their new home.

According to Adelaide Zoo director Chris West, the importance of the agreement to send two Pandas to Adelaide cannot be understated.

Only 1600 remain in the wild in China with another 200 in breeding centres.

But there are only 30 outside China and, until now, none in the southern hemisphere.

"China regards them as a national treasure," Dr West says.

"So for Adelaide to get two is a major gesture of friendship."

It could also go some way towards soothing recent tensions between the two countries.

Beijing has been upset over Australian government restrictions on Chinese investment in mining while the arrest of an Australian mining executive has also caused problems.