Industry insiders have called for favorable policies to attract Chinese visitors as several cities in the United States and Europe have witnessed a decline in the number of tourists visiting from China in the past few years, resulting in loss of revenue for the tourism industry in those places.
Speaking to China Daily, Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice-president of the US Travel Association, a nonprofit organization representing the travel industry, said that China used to be one of the fastest-growing markets for the travel industry in the US, with "Chinese visitors spending more on average than visitors from any other market".
According to an analysis by the association, tourist inflow from China to the US last year stood at only 30 percent of 2019 levels, while the overall overseas travel recovery stood at 73 percent. The US saw 1.8 million fewer visitors from China in 2023 compared with 2019, resulting in an estimated loss of $9 billion in potential travel spending, according to the association.
Chinese tourists are much loved by international businesses as they are among the biggest spenders when they travel.
Statistics show that Chinese travelers represented the highest average spend per visitor, with each Chinese visitor spending an average of $11,849 in 2019, said the National Travel & Tourism Office, the agency within the US Department of Commerce that monitors tourism.
In New York City, about 8 percent of 14 million visitors in 2019 were from China, according to the New York City Tourism and Conventions Office. Around 390,000 were estimated to have visited from China last year.
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