CAN THE CHI-COMS SAVE OBAMA'S FAILING ECONOMY?
Not all Chinese are starving toiling peasants who need safety nets so they don't jump out of windows at factories where they make iPods for Americans. Some of them have money. Lots of money. Like tour of LA, Vegas, Big Apple and blow $10,000 on rich person stuff BEFORE joining other Chinese storming the gates at the suburban outlets.
Heck, 100 years ago, Americans were chasing Chinese out of their cities. Now they are sending governors to China to set up factories, send students and shoppers to their states.
See China Daily The Big Deal
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2011-12/02/content_14201214.htm
Updated: 2011-12-02 09:05
Highlights:
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2011-12/02/content_14201214.htm
Updated: 2011-12-02 09:05
By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
Black Friday, luxury shopping are major atraction for Chinese tourists to the united statesHighlights:
Frenetic late-night shopping is a distinct feature of Black Friday, when throngs of shoppers march to stores nationwide in the United States, grabbing incredible discounts and deals every year on Thanksgiving night. Amid the excitement and buzz of shoppers in the dimly lit Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, a well-known outlet in New York City, several greetings in Chinese rang loud and clear during the early hours of early Nov 25.
"What did you get?" was one of the questions posed by a Chinese shopper to her friend.
"PRADA won't open till 5 am, so I grabbed a few Coach handbags first," her friend replied.
Inside the Coach shop it was just 3 am, but most of the shoppers who thronged the store were Chinese tourists. Two Chinese women sat in a corner with almost 30 items, and were trying to figure out which ones they had to give up because of the store's purchase limitations.
every shop long line of chinese tourist
prices for expensive good much lower than China
spent $10,000 on 13 day vacation beijing - LA - vega - NYc , and that’s just he weedk BEFORE thanksgiving
top spending tourists
The Chinese lag in their Navy, Air Force and Army behind the West BUT.......
***The Chinese are #1 in .... SHOPPING??***
1026: the average spending of outbound Chinese tourists last year was $1,026
508 Russia,
764 US
719 Japan .
"We are willing to contribute more to the American economy"
THAT'S ONE MILLION CHINESE TOURIST SHOPPERS SPENDING $5BILLION
802,000 (nearly 1m) visited us in 2010
US Commercer Dept also figures nearly 1M = 801,000 last yr, 5B spending
THOUSAND PERSON MEGA TOUR $$$$$$
1000 person mega tours
1000 person mega tours
More Chinese students coming to visit colleges on vacation (as if we didn't have enough Asian Americans clogging the top colleges)
TEENS SEEK APPLE PRADA GUESS
Teenagers head to outlet malls and fifth ave seeking apple, prada, guess
#1 int student population 128,000 18% of all
TEENS SEEK APPLE PRADA GUESS
Teenagers head to outlet malls and fifth ave seeking apple, prada, guess
#1 int student population 128,000 18% of all
The US Commerce Department says 801,000 tourists from the mainland visited the US last year, injecting $5 billion into the US economy.
"Governors of many American states and representatives from famous hotel chains have been making frequent trips to China since last year to hard sell their destinations to Chinese tourists.
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Here's the whole: thing since China Daily is bascially a propoganda rag they want to distribute as widely as possible anyways. They figured out I'm Chinese and dropped a free copy at my house every Friday.
USA Weekly/ Cover Story
The big deal
Updated: 2011-12-02 09:05
By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
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*Shopping still the main draw for Chinese tourists to US
Frenetic late-night shopping is a distinct feature of Black Friday, when throngs of shoppers march to stores nationwide in the United States, grabbing incredible discounts and deals every year on Thanksgiving night. Amid the excitement and buzz of shoppers in the dimly lit Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, a well-known outlet in New York City, several greetings in Chinese rang loud and clear during the early hours of early Nov 25.
"What did you get?" was one of the questions posed by a Chinese shopper to her friend.
"PRADA won't open till 5 am, so I grabbed a few Coach handbags first," her friend replied.
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Inside the Coach shop it was just 3 am, but most of the shoppers who thronged the store were Chinese tourists. Two Chinese women sat in a corner with almost 30 items, and were trying to figure out which ones they had to give up because of the store's purchase limitations.
A Chinese man in his early 40s was busy posing questions to most of the Chinese female shoppers in his strong Northeast Chinese accent: "Do you think a 20-year-old girl would like this bag?"
Despite the mad scramble, language barriers and drowsiness notwithstanding, there was no dearth of Chinese shoppers looking for bargains. For many of them, the idea of shopping in the US was the biggest draw as they waited patiently with bloodshot eyes.
"Every shop had long queues of Chinese tourists," says 29-year-old Hou Xiaoguang, a tourist from Beijing. "People are buying like everything is free!"
Hou spent his 13-day vacation in the US in November with his wife and a couple of his friends. They traveled from Beijing to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York.
"Prices of most of the big brands that are sold in the US outlets are much cheaper than in China. It is our first American trip," says Hou, after he and his wife spent nearly $10,000 on a single days' shopping in stores, a week before Thanksgiving.
According to Global Blue, the Switzerland-based tax refund and shopping service provider, the average spending of outbound Chinese tourists last year was $1,026, while those from Russia, the US and Japan were $508, $764, and $719 respectively.
Chinese tourists spent 107 percent more, year-on-year, on duty-free shopping abroad in 2010 compared to 2009, with shopping accounting for more than 70 percent of their total expenditure, according to data provided by ASTRIX, a marketing agency that specializes in tourism and luxury lifestyle.
Like Hou and his friends, more Chinese tourists are now traveling to the US after the two nations inked and implemented the group travel agreement in 2008.
According to a report released by the US Department of Commerce in October, more than 802,000 Chinese travelers visited the US in 2010, ranking 11th among top international travelers to the US.
The numbers for this year are expected to reach almost 1.1 million, an increase of 37 percent, and go up to 1.33 million by the end of 2012.
More Chinese tourists are expected to descend on the US during the upcoming winter holiday that lasts until February, and includes Christmas, New Year and Chinese Lunar New Year. "We are willing to contribute more to the American economy," says Hou in a lighter vein.
Travel agencies in China are promoting mega tours, each consisting of up to 1,000 travelers to celebrate the 2012 Chinese New Year in the US, following their successful launch of the super big tour groups in New York and Los Angeles in the past two years. Mega tours, unlike regular tours, sometimes feature special sightseeing arrangements tailor-made for Chinese tourists.
This year, Florida also figures in the mega tour list. The Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation recently announced their arrangements for an upcoming 1,000-strong Chinese group, including visits to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, the America Airlines Arena and Freedom Tower in Miami, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, and many more tourist spots.
By the end of 2016, China, according to US Department of Commerce estimates, will provide the largest number of overseas travelers to the US with the number anywhere upwards of 2.19 million. Joining the teeming Chinese tourists on their way to the US are young Chinese students who have gradually become a strong visible part of the whole demographic.
When Chinese schools begin their winter vacations in January, more tours will be made up of middle school students and college sophomores who are expected to visit several top American universities, says Richard Sun, a 39-year-old Chinese American, who has been working in the tourism industry for more than 17 years. "There have been more student tours this year," he says.
"The number of confirmed student groups has almost doubled over last winter," says Sun, director of Youlieguo.com, a tour agency in the US that has branches in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and New York City.
According to Sun, shopping is the premier event for most Chinese students. Many of them are teenagers, who are keen to visit the Woodbury Outlets and the Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to buy big-ticket brands from Apple, Prada and Gucci.
"Local guides are often shocked by the money spent on luxury brands by young Chinese tourists," he says.
But on the flip side, the surge in inbound travel has helped improve chances for many Chinese students to study in the US, Sun says.
China currently accounts for the largest international student group in the US. Nearly 128,000 students, 18 percent of the total international students who were enrolled in US universities during the 2009-10 academic year, were from China, which is 30 percent more than the previous year, according to the Institute for International Education's Open Doors 2010 report.
USA Weekly/ Cover Story
The big deal
Updated: 2011-12-02 09:05
By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
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*| * Tourism exhibitions, such as this one in Shanghai, encourage Chinese tourists to come to the US. [Provided to China Daily] |
According to Sun, more Chinese parents are expected to visit the US during May and January to attend their children's graduation, and also use the opportunity to tour the US with their children.
"In the past, Chinese parents would carry instant noodles and tea bags along in order to save money on meals. But now, parents accept all the arrangements made by us on accommodation and food, and they are also willing to pay for better services," he says.
Sun also has some high-end Chinese clients, many of whom spend a week in the US playing golf.
"They stay at luxury hotels and do not do any sightseeing like regular tourists. These kind of high-end consumers are increasing," he says.
Business travelers from China have also been making US trips in recent times to pursue commercial real estate investments, says Liu Chuang, manager of the North American department at the major Chinese online travel agency Byecity.com.
"Most of my clients are business travel groups who are keen on understanding the design and management of shopping malls in the US. Most of them are learning from their American counterparts, while some of them are actually considering purchasing commercial property in the US."
The huge amount of cash spent by Chinese travelers has also given a shot in the arm for tourism-related businesses in the US. The US Commerce Department says 801,000 tourists from the mainland visited the US last year, injecting $5 billion into the US economy.
"Governors of many American states and representatives from famous hotel chains have been making frequent trips to China since last year to hard sell their destinations to Chinese tourists. This has also given us plenty of information to develop new locations for Chinese tourists in the US," Liu says.
Byecity.com successfully conducted a tour for 1,000 people to Los Angeles last year. This year, the mega tour in Los Angeles will include exclusive fireworks display at the Disneyland Resort in Anahiem and a dragon dance before a special banquet.
Accommodation for the tour group for the upcoming tour has been upgraded to five-star facilities compared with four-star previously.
Chinese tourists are already quite popular in major US cities such as New York. Local tourism organizations in the city are now working actively to attract more Chinese travelers during the holidays.
"Many of the hotels, like Marriott, Hilton and Starwood, are now catering to Chinese tourists and offer special services," says Christopher Heywood, vice-president of communications at NYC & Co, an organization that promotes tourism in New York.
Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art offer tours in Mandarin, while shops like Tourneau have come out with special watches, Heywood says.
The New York Marriott Marquis in Time Square has deputed its executive chef to Chinatown in lower Manhattan to learn about the appropriate presentation of a Chinese menu. It also offers other services such as Chinese breakfast, which it started five years ago, and Mandarin-speaking guides, along with other items such as slippers and Chinese tea.
"The Chinese leisure traveler, to some extent, still sees a hotel as a place where they can sleep. What we are trying to do is to make the Chinese traveler feel that hotel part of the entire trip is an experience by itself," says Kathleen Duffy, director of public relations at NYC Marriott Hotels.
As one of the landmarks in New York City, the Empire State Building will have a lighting celebration on Jan 20 and has decorated the top of the tower in red, yellow and red colors to commemorate the Chinese New Year. It also coincides with a weeklong exhibition on the history of the Chinese New Year in its lobby.
"Shopping still remains the main attraction for Chinese tourists in New York. There are a range of options, like from Fifth Avenue to Madison Avenue to SOHO and the Meatpacking District. All these destinations offer opportunities for the Chinese travelers to buy branded goods at competitive rates," she adds.
For the coming Lunar New Year, New York will offer special programs, such as the 20th anniversary of Restaurant Week, Broadway Week, Off Broadway Week, a hotel promotion with a choice of value-added offers, and for luxury hotels, a complimentary third night free after paying for two consecutive nights.
