CHINA> Focus
Group tour travelers set their sights on the US
By Li Xiang in Beijing and Maggie Lee in the US (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-17 07:29

Domestic travel agencies like CITS hope the opening up of the US market will turn the situation around.

"As the world's largest economy, the US market possesses huge potential unmatched by any other country. We hope the newly opened US destinations can help boost the weak outbound travel market this year," Lin said.

The US market currently makes up only about 10 percent of total profits of the company's outbound tourism, Lin said. He hopes that the proportion rises to a third of the total profits in the future.

Similarly, the impact of a rapidly growing Chinese tourism market is starting to be felt on US shores.

Amid talk of an economic recession, many top US destinations are looking to the tourism industry as a bright spot for the local economy.

"A strong tourism industry is critical in seeing any city through tough economic times, not only because of hotel taxes, sales taxes and local employment, but also purely because of visitor spending," said George Fertitta, chief executive officer of the NYC & Company, the official marketing and tourism organization of New York.

"With Chinese tourism at a steady annual increase, we think the MOU will only continue to strengthen this trend, and I think we will find that China will be one of our top travel markets in the next few years," he said.

Tourism experts predict that Chinese tourism to the US will expand by 46 percent between 2005 and this year. The number of Chinese visitors to the US will also reach 579,000 by 2011, the US Department of Commerce has projected.

To keep up with the demand, hotel development has been rising throughout the city of New York. By the end of this year, the city will boast an increase of more than 3,000 new hotel rooms, and more than 13,000 by 2010, the NYC & Company has said.

The city has also gone on to print a guide in simplified Chinese and started to hire more Mandarin-speaking representatives at its tourist office to accommodate the growth of Chinese visitors.

The tourist dollars brought into the US by Chinese travelers have already been boosting the economy. On average, Chinese travelers spend about $6,000 a visit to the US, more than tourists of any other country, figures released by the US Department of Commerce showed.

Meng said his shopping budget for his upcoming US tour is $2,000.

"I made only 50 yuan ($7.20) a month in 1970s. Now I can easily afford a 12-day tour to the US, which would be unimaginable 30 years ago."