Los Angeles looks to attract more Chinese tourists

Global Business

With the rise of the middle class in China and recent changes in U.S. visa requirements, Chinese tourists are traveling to America in droves. Their number one destination is L.A. CCTV’s May Lee reported from Los Angeles.

Los Angeles looks to attract more Chinese tourists

With the rise of the middle class in China and recent changes in U.S. visa requirements, Chinese tourists are traveling to America in droves. Their number one destination is L.A. CCTV’s May Lee reported from Los Angeles.

This is part of the VIP shopping experience at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles which specifically caters to Chinese tourists.

It’s that kind of purchasing power that retailers are scrambling to capture. The proof is in the numbers. According to the U.S. Travel Association, the average Chinese tourist spends $7,200, compared to $4,500 by tourists from other countries.

For shopping centers like the Beverly Center, that means creating more programs to attract visitors from China. In 2014, more than 250 Chinese tour buses visited the mall.

Last year, Los Angeles was the number one U.S. destination for Chinese visitors. Some 700,000 tourists vacationed here spending more than a billion dollars. On world famous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, 60 percent of sales come from Chinese tourists.

The Los Angeles Tourism Board expected the number of Chinese visitors to keep rising. To foster growth, the board has added offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

The number of visitors from China is expected to get an even bigger boost because of recent changes in the visa policy. Chinese tourists and business people can now get 10 year visas and students, five year visas. These changes, according to U.S. officials, could mean nearly eight million Chinese visitors by 2021 and an $85 billion impact on the U.S. economy.


Elliot Ferguson of Destination DC discusses Chinese tourism

CCTV America’s Phillip Yin interviewed Elliot Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC.

Elliot Ferguson of Destination DC discusses Chinese tourism

CCTV America interviewed Elliot Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC.