Chinese Tourists Significantly Impact American Tourism Industry

Nearly a thousand Chinese tourists celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year in Disneyland Resort in California this year. In order to make Chinese tourists in the United States spend a colorful Chinese New Year holiday, Disneyland Resort in California well prepared the "dumpling feast" and the VIP exclusive "fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle show" to entertain Chinese tourists. This is the second year when Chinese visitors were invited to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year in California. This group of Chinese tourists are called "God of Wealth" by Californian officials. This Chinese group spent $ 2,652 per person at least during their stay, twice than the per capita consumption of all overseas visitors in California.

According to "Wall Street Journal", for many wealthy Chinese tourists, the sound of  celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year is not from fireworks, but from the tinkle of foreign store cash registers . "Many are going shopping!" Officials in charge of outbound travel agents said, "Luxury-hunting consumers in the urban China is the main group of Chinese New Year travel in Europe and America." Based on the newest report, China has become the world's largest consumer of luxury goods.

This is only a small part of Chinese tourists to the United States. Approximately 1.15 million Chinese toured the US in 2011. It is estimated to exceed 1.3 million this year. The statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that per capita consumption of foreign tourists in the United States is $ 4,000 , while per capita consumption of Chinese tourists is $6200. However, from the perspective of the United States Travel Association, $ 6,200 is clearly underestimated. It believes that the DoC only calculates the money Chinese tourists spend on the retail industry; in fact, if taking transportation, hotels, restaurants and spontaneous activities at their own expense into account, the per capita consumption of Chinese tourists would be at least $ 8,000.