Apparently, the city of Los Angeles has someone working full-time in China to promote Los Angeles as a vacation destination to a growing number of well-to-do Chinese who can afford to travel abroad:
“In June, China and the U.S. are expected to implement new travel rules that will allow Chinese travel agencies to book tour groups to the U.S. for the first time. And American destinations and companies will be able to advertise directly to Chinese consumers. That’s expected to bring a flood of Chinese tourists stateside — and Los Angeles wants to grab a healthy share of them. Some 320,000 Chinese visitors came to the U.S. in 2006 mainly on business and student visas — and about 110,000 of those came to Los Angeles. Next year, L.A. city officials project that number to climb to at least 170,000, depending on how quickly the U.S. can handle visa applications… Los Angeles is the only American city with a license from China’s National Tourism Administration, which allows someone like [Jamie] Lee [chief rep of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau in China,] to work in China and gives the city a stamp of approval on the agency’s website. That’s important in a country where government has a heavy hand in industry…”
Apparently Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is well known and popular in China and has boosted Los Angeles’s name and image in China. I can’t wait to see on YouTube the Governator on Chinese TV.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Disgusted
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- Angry
