2015年CRI More Chinese Tourists to Visit U.S. in 2016: Travel Agency

 

Sun Geng, Chief Operating Officer of L&L Travel Enterprise, the biggest travel agency for Chinese tourists travelling to the States, has predicted that the 2016 Spring Festival period will be their busiest time, with more than 5000 Chinese travellers having already applied¹ for tours in that period.

Sun said that in the future, they plan to develop more travel destinations to remoter parts of the U.S. and not stay just confined to those containing first-class landmarks².

"In the next step, we will develop more tourist destinations in the second-tier or third-tier U.S. regions, including the Midwest, which showcases the original U.S. culture. We hope our tours will not only let Chinese tourists see the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Universal Studios in Los Angeles and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. We will offer more tours and let young and old Chinese people experience true U.S. culture and spirit."

The travel agency welcomed 260 thousand Chinese tourists this year, the highest number among all its competitors.

Meanwhile, figures from the U.S. Travel Association show that around 3 million tourists from the Chinese mainland visited the U.S. in 2015, up by 16 percent from last year.

China is behind Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and Japan in terms of the numbers of tourists visiting the U.S. But, by 2020 China could become the third biggest source of visitors. 

This growth has been facilitated partially³ by the new visa arrangement announced at the APEC Summit in November 2014.

B-category non-immigrant visas were extended to 10 years for Chinese business travelers and tourists going to the U.S. 

Many Chinese tourists have welcomed the extension.

"The travel visa was extended to ten years last year, which made everything easier. And so we applied for 10-year visas, with a plan of coming here for the New Year." 

The amount of money Chinese tourists spend during their trips in the U.S. is also increasing significantly, which has proved to be good news for the U.S. economy. 

"The two of us have spent four to five thousand already on hotel stay. We are staying for two weeks here, so probably we will spend another 2,000 to 3,000 dollars. We were also asked to do some shopping for friends and family as New York is a great place to buy luxury items. In total we plan to spend around 20,000 to 30,000 dollars."

By 2021, Chinese tourists are expected to spend a staggering 80 billion U.S. dollars annually⁴ in the U.S, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

1 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

2 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。