Following a U.S. visit last month by the first leisure tour group from China—sanctioned by the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade—meeting business from China may not be very far behind.
On June 9,more than 200 visitors from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were welcomed during a gala reception in Washington, DC, that included Shao Qiwei, Chairman, China National Tourism Administration, U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China Clark Randt, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Travel Industry Association President and CEO Roger Dow, National Tour Association Chairman and CEO Bob Hoelscher, and NTA President Lisa Simon.
The Chinese travelers toured Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and San Francisco.
"Competition for the Chinese traveler is enormous worldwide," said Deborah Reinow, VP of tourism, San Francisco CVB. "Everyone—from Dubai to Europe to all of Asia—is looking to the Chinese visitor to fill their hotels as well as attend the conventions they host."
Reinow anticipates that leisure tourism will be followed by meetings tourism. "This will encourage additional participation of the Chinese in U.S. conventions, and jumpstart Chinese participation in U.S.-based international meetings. Simultaneously, she added, "U.S. companies will shift more focus on obtaining more meetings, incentive, convention, and expo business."
Both NTA and TIA have been proactive on the mainland promoting U.S. tourism. "NTA is proud to join with TIA in hosting this monumental event, as the U.S. opens its doors to these new international leisure visitors," said NTA Chairman and CEO Bob Hoelscher, CTP. "NTA tour operators participating in the China Inbound Program are ready to assist Chinese travel agents, and the initial NTA list included more than 90 U.S.-based tour operators." TIA's Dow said, "Welcoming more Chinese visitors to the United States will increase understanding between our two countries and facilitate 'people-to-people' diplomacy. This is an important step in reversing the decline of overseas visitors to the U.S. since September 11."
Planners like Jackie Chutter, president of Williamsburg-based Virginia Escape, Ltd., are eager for the business, but have not yet made the right connections. "I was approached by two different travel companies to provide a Chinese interpreter for this U.S China tour group, but I think there was a communication problem, and our services were not used." Chutter concluded, "Language is always a problem, no matter where you live."
Some destinations, like San Francisco, are leading the pack already,with 35 percent of the Chinese tourist market. "Other destinations have been slowly coming to promote themselves," said Reinow. But, she added, "to my knowledge, San Francisco is the only city to have tourism representatives in both Shanghai and Beijing." Los Angeles, too, is a frontrunner, according to Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA Inc., the Los Angeles CVB. "LA recognized early on that Chinese travelers would be a burgeoning visitor market for the city. Our Beijing tourism office has established relationships with
Chinese travel agencies and tour operators that will provide us with a competitive edge and the city will benefit greatly from the economic impact."
According to the Department of Commerce, Chinese visitation is forecasted to reach 579,000 Chinese travelers to the U.S. by 2011, which represents a 52 percent increase over the current average of 300,000 Chinese visitors.
Once the potential of Chinese tourism is realized, will promoting to that market nudge meetings promotion out of CVB and hotel budgets? Not necessarily, said Jorge Franz, VP of tourism, Greater Houston CVB. "We always have some funds set aside for new markets."
Originally published July 7, 2008