China's tourists to US to top 2 million by 2015

Shao Qiwei, head of the National Tourism Administration (NTA), said more than 2 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit the United States while 3 million US tourists will visit China by 2015 if the current momentum continues.
The optimistic forecast was made at a dialogue on tourism cooperation in Nanjing between government departments, tourism travel services as well as hotels and airlines from both countries.
According to NTA statistics, arrivals of Chinese tourists in the United States jumped 33% from a year ago to 730,000 during the first eight months of this year, while 1.33 million US tourists traveled to China over the same period, up 17% year-on-year.
Citing a report by the China Tourism Academy, English.news.cn said China’s tourists spent US$43.7 billion overseas in 2009, and about 54 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas and spend US$48 billion this year.