Chinese tourists are flocking in record numbers to Trafalgar Square in London, the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, and Disneyland in Hong Kong.
So great is their wanderlust that China will soon become the fourth-biggest nation of globe-trotters.
The explosion in foreign travel by a nation of 1.3 billion people — now freed of some government restrictions on travel and enjoying rising incomes — has the world's tourism industry seeing dollars, pounds and euros. The potential is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.
The USA, however, is not yet totally able to cash in on the boom — a potential source of revenue that could help clip the $202 billion trade deficit with China — because the Chinese government limits tourist travel and marketing by foreign nations on a preferential nation-by-nation basis.
The USA is not on that approved list because of post-9/11 visa restrictions that have limited and slowed the visa process. Only Nevada and Hawaii have been granted licenses to market travel to their states.
The Chinese will take 34.1 million trips abroad this year, the United Nations World Tourism Organization estimates. That's a 10% increase over 2005. By 2020, the number of foreign jaunts, mostly tourist travel, will hit 100 million, the organization predicts. By then, only Germans, the Japanese and Americans will travel abroad more.
Although about 90% of their trips are to Asian destinations, Chinese travelers tour the globe. Their top stop outside Asia: Europe, which will host nearly 1.4 million Chinese tourists this year, the economic research firm Global Insight estimates. North America is next, with about 376,000. Global Insight predicts a 40% to 50% increase in Chinese trips outside Asia by 2010.
The growth has the travel industry scrambling to cater to Chinese tourists, who have a reputation for seeking low-cost hotels, preferring Chinese food and "bagging" as many sights as possible rather than lingering to soak up the culture.
Chinese is expected to replace Americans or Japanese as Europe's most lucrative visitors any time soon. China's per capita income is less than $900 annually.
Source:佚名