Fewer Chinese visitors are coming to Hawaii, according to the latest figures from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. That matches a broader trend for the United States.
Chinese visitors to Hawaii are down 26 percent through the third quarter of 2019. If the trend continues as expected, it will mark four straight years of declines. According to Anu Anwar, a research fellow with the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, the decline could be a form of political punishment from the Chinese government.
“They bring a whole of government to modify the behavior of other countries if it's not aligned with Beijing’s goals. It could be economic laborers, it could be tourism, it could be many, many other ways,” Anwar said.
About 150 million Chinese citizens traveled abroad in 2018, according to China's Ministry for Culture and Tourism. Their numbers have more than tripled over a 10-year period. They now generate $250 billion in economic worldwide activity each year.
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