Chinese top tourism official said that by the end of the year Chinese tourists will have undertaken around 100 million trips.
China is now the third-biggest tourist recipient in the whole world and also, it is the biggest global tourism revenue contributor. The head of China National Tourism Administration, Shao Qiwei, held a conference to promote the cooperation between the tourism authorities of the United States and China.
Shao stated that last year Chinese tourists spent approximately $102 billion abroad with each Chinese traveler spending an average of $5,950 in the US alone. He also stated that according to research findings by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Chinese tourists aided the generation of at least 10,000 jobs in the year 2012 in USA.
Shao Qiwei has led a tourism official delegation in the United States and has also taken part in the succession of events which aim to enhance cooperation in tourism sector.
Chris Thomson, the CEO and the president of the official US tourism marketing organization and Brand USA echoed Shao’s remarks. He also predicted that China will be a top tourist source in US in the year 2018 with the Chinese tourists reaching the amount of 4.7 million every year. Thomson said that more than 1.47 million Chinese visited US in 2012 and that number is increasing at a high rate of 35 percent annually. This figure puts China ahead of all other visiting countries in the US. The Chinese travelers in the US spent approximately $8.8 billion during the last year making US the top spending destination for them, he said.
Thomas Campbell, a director of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City stated that during the last year, they welcomed around 170,000 Chinese visitors. Their Chinese version guidebook has now become very popular and it is the top selling item ahead of all the other languages.
George Fertitta, a CEO of New York city’s official marketing, tourism and partnership organization and NYC and Co. said that the city is ready and looking forward to embrace more Chinese visitors. After the tremendous opportunity in 2008 when China granted the US an approved destination status, New York City became the first city in US to take advantage of the opportunity where it established its representative office in China.
Fertitta also stated that there has been a 27 percent increase in the number of visitors from China to 541,000 visitors last year. This is the highest growth of tourist number in any other country.
However, Shao said to the US authorities that they should ensure that they address all the problems bothering the tourists. Some Chinese had complained about the lack of visiting sites when there was a partial government shutdown in the US leading to closure of zoos and museums and other famous visiting spots. This may frustrate the visitors and should therefore be addressed.