Chinese visitor arrivals to the USA are expected to grow by 25% to 30% this year, continuing the strong growth in 2014, when the US received 20% more Chinese visitors, at more than 2 million.
As top spenders globally, Chinese travelers spent over US$130 billion in overseas travel last year and US$21.1 billion in the US in 2013.
The US Department of Commerce stated that the extension of business and visitor visas to 10 years and student visas to five years and the simplification of the visa process will lead to higher arrival numbers to the US, estimated to reach 7.5 million Chinese annually by 2021, contributing US$85 billion to the US economy.
The US tourism industry is also expecting rapid increase in repeat visits (currently 45% of total visits), independent and semi-independent travel (currently 30% of all travelers), more visitors from second-tier cities and more business group tours from the China.
An increasing number of Chinese tourists are attracted to shopping, sightseeing, gourmet, national parks, art galleries and museums. These so-called “second generation” visitors are more culturally conscious and now number around 200 million, representing 75% of the total FIT market in China.(Translation by David)
