BrandUSA, a US tourism marketing agency, forecasts that by 2018 China will become the USA’s largest source of inbound tourism. This forecast took into consideration factors such as the number of Chinese inbound tourists and their consumer spending in the USA.
Currently, China is ranked the sixth largest source of inbound tourists for the USA while Canada is ranked number one. China also ranks sixth in the amount of tourist spending in the USA. Statistics from the US Department of Commerce show that last year Chinese tourists made 1.8 million trips to the USA. This is a new record and a 22.5% increase from 2012.
Chinese tourists also had a record amount of US$9.8 billion in total spending. Average spending per person was around US$5,400, which is almost 21% higher than the average spending for international tourists in the USA. Besides transportation, shopping and dining are the two biggest areas of spending for Chinese tourists in the USA.
Chinese tourists stay in the USA an average of 7-13 days, the longest average stay among international tourists in the USA. The US tourism market is relatively new to Chinese tourists so the majority of them choose to visit with a tour group.
The most popular US destination among Chinese tourists is California. 46% of Chinese tourists choose California as the first stop in their US trips. 33% of Chinese tourists choose New York as their landing destination.
In a survey by BrandUSA, 60% of Chinese surveyed say they will include the USA on their list of overseas travel destinations. 59% of those surveyed say the plan to visit the USA within a year.
The US Department of Commerce forecasts that from 2013-2019 the compounded annual growth rate of trips by Chinese tourists to the USA will reach 18.1%. China will rank first in the top 10 international sources of inbound tourism to the USA. By 2019 there will be 4.91 million visits to the USA by Chinese tourists.(Translation by David)
