The growing number of Chinese visitors is helping to revive the US economy. Last year 1.8 million Chinese travelers spent more than 2.1 billion US dollars in the country.

 

Industry insiders predict that by 2021 the total number of Chinese visitors to the United States will hit 7 million, and they will spend more than 8 million USD there.

 

To achieve that goal, American enterprises are tailoring their services to attract more Chinese visitors.

 

China has overtaken the United States as the largest overseas tourism market. According to the Chinese Tourism Academy, 135 million Chinese people will enjoy their holidays overseas in 2015.

 

Julie Wagner is the executive director of the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau in Los Angeles.

 

She has seen a significant rise in the number of Chinese individual travelers.

 

"When people are coming for the first time they come in a big group, and they want to feel safe and they want to make sure that an expert is there with them helping guide their trip. But I think as people get more and more familiar and they talk about the United States and they talk about Beverly Hills, I think that individual travelers, I think that the number is growing. And so we are starting to see a lot more small family groups coming instead of big giant groups."

 

Several countries, including the United States, have simplified the visa application process in order to attract more Chinese visitors.

 

The US government has extended tourist visa to Chinese people from one year to 10 years, which means Chinese tourists are allowed multiple entries to the country.

 

After the first trip, which is usually focused on sight-seeing, Chinese tourists will have more chances to re-visit the United States either for shopping or recreation.

 

Julie Wagner adds that US enterprises have adapted their services to meet the demands of Chinese visitors.

 

"You know we love the Chinese, We love welcoming them here and we have done everything we can to be, what we call 'China ready,' to make sure that Chinese tourists that are coming here feel comfortable, they can use their Union Pay cards, people speak the language and its easy for them."

 

When Chinese holidays such as the Spring Festival arrive, various sales and celebrations take place simultaneously in the United States.

 

Becca Willcox is the activities and communications manager of Tysons Corner Center, the largest mall in the Washington D.C. area.

 

"One of my colleagues said that we should start celebrating the Chinese New Year. We have such a dense population of Chinese-Americans and Chinese visitors that come in here, so let's celebrate the lunar New Year."

 

The US media has reported that only 4 percent of the Chinese population hold US visas. As China's middle class population grows fast, more and more Chinese families will be able to afford overseas trips, and the number of Chinese visitors to the United States will increase accordingly.

 

Many businesses are expecting increased consumer spending during the Labor Day holiday which starts on May 1st.