Chinese tourism about to blossom in U.S.

from Investor's Business Daily (7/9):

Chinese Tourism In The U.S. Set To Boom BY DOUG TSURUOKA

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 7/9/2008

"British businessmen in the 19th century quipped that if every Chinese citizen bought a shirt, it would keep English textile mills humming for 100 years.

Imagine the impact on Chinese and U.S. travel firms in 2008 if just some of the 1.3 billion people in China started visiting the Statue of Liberty or Waikiki.

Get ready — signs point to a hefty increase in Chinese sightseers hitting U.S. tourist hot spots. Online travel companies such as Ctrip, (CTRP) Expedia (EXPE) and Priceline (PCLN) are poised to benefit in big ways.

The U.S. and China in December signed a pact that lets Chinese tourist groups travel to the U.S. for the first time. Only business execs and government officials had been allowed to travel here before." ...

"The first Chinese tour group of 200 visitors were greeted in Washington, D.C., on June 19 by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez." ...

"The number of Chinese citizens traveling overseas will hit 100 million a year by 2020 from 34 million in 2006, estimates the World Tourism Organization.

Chinese visitors to the U.S. have doubled over the last decade to 397,000 last year, Commerce says. The number is expected to reach a robust 755,000 by 2017, according to research firm Tourism Economics. The recent tour pact could push the number higher.

The China National Tourism Administration estimates that nearly 30 million Chinese traveled abroad in the first nine months of 2007, up 17% vs. the year-ago period. Hong Kong, Macau and Japan were top destinations. But many are expected to turn their sights to the U.S." ...

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