[photopress:Burce_Bommarito.jpg,full,alignright]Bruce Bommarito, vice president of international market development for the Travel Industry Association in the United States said of the tourist market from China to the USA and shown on the right, said, ‘In the next 10 years, it will probably dwarf any overseas market we may have, with the potential to dwarf all overseas markets combined.’
The number of Chinese who travel outside their homeland each year is expected to nearly triple to 100-million by 2020, and American cities and businesses are positioning themselves to profit from what they hope will be a tourist boom. They are establishing offices in China and lobbying the government to ease restrictions on travel to the United States.
While the number of Chinese visitors has been increasing as yet it is not a flood. Far from it. 320, 000 Chinese — 1.5% of overseas visitors — traveled to the United States in 2006. Of the Chinese who left the mainland, fewer than one in 100 headed for the United States. But many American entrepreneurs think that number could soon explode.
Rising disposable income has made travel an increasingly attainable luxury, and one that is often viewed as a status symbol.
Source: St Petersburg Times
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