China and US hope for tourism boom

Both countries optimistic for more inbound travelers on back of bilateral cooperation, face-to-face exchanges, Yang Feiyue reports.

Vincenzo Perretta, CEO of Volatour, a travel agency based in New York, is looking forward to the implementation of more favorable tourism policies, he said during a recent trip to Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

"The rate of visitors from China to the United States is quite low, partly because we don't have enough flights. So there is not enough airlift to sustain high volumes," Perretta said at the recent 14th China-US Tourism Leadership Summit held in the city.

"But there is definitely potential for both countries to generate more business," he adds.

Perretta has visited China many times.

"I love China and I think that it is a great place for Americans to discover," he says, adding that many Americans have a very different concept of what China is today and he would love to bring more people to explore what the country has to offer.

"You guys did a good job in welcoming us. The food and beverage arrangements were fantastic. The transportation and all the services were great. It's really unbelievable," Perretta says about his experiences at the summit in Xi'an.

"What we saw in Xi'an was amazing. I visited the city 20 years ago to see the Terracotta Warriors and it was nice to see that again," he says.

His company signed a cooperation agreement with the government of Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, during the summit.

"We will help to promote each other's countries and build up what is needed and what is missing," he says.

Perretta's wishes might be answered as government officials and tourism players have proposed the facilitation of travel at the summit where 400 industry representatives discussed boosting bilateral tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the world's two biggest economies.

They expressed high expectations for concrete actions to improve the visa application process and access to tour information, as well as transport and payment to remove tourism barriers between the two countries.

"The Chinese government has taken various measures to improve conveniences for inbound tourists such as using payment procedures, simplifying the visa process and optimizing the service environment for international tourists," says Gu Huimin, a tourism science professor from the Beijing International Studies University, during a forum focusing on facilitating inbound travel and diversifying experiences.

"In addition, China is actively working on an inbound tourism promotion plan, both the government and companies are working together to provide international guests with more convenience to show how beautiful China is," Gu adds.

More convenience

Dai Haiyong, head of the foreign exchange business with Tencent Financial Technology, says the company has come up with two products for international travelers to China.

The first is binding international bank cards to WeChat for QR code payments, while the second is using overseas e-wallets for direct payments, Dai says, adding that the company has been accelerating cooperation with e-wallets around the world.

"We also launched a solution for small payments without verification. Tourists coming to China don't need to fill out any information and can make quick payments, greatly enhancing overall convenience," he says.

Millions of inbound visitors to China have used the company's payment service since July last year and gave positive feedback, Dai notes.

More investment will go into diversifying payment methods such as facial recognition, and product functionalities will be streamlined.

"In terms of identity recognition and customer service, we will leverage visual or deep-learning capabilities to better serve everyone," he says.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, says the city has applied an electronic customs clearance system that has played a positive role in facilitating travel for inbound visitors.

Last year, the city's financial management bureau worked on a service to convert different foreign currencies directly into Macao's scanning payment system.

"We hope to enhance convenience for our travelers in spending in Macao in the future," she says.

Macao is also leveraging advanced technology to address other issues, including making it easier for inbound travelers to search and understand Macao.

"We are currently working on launching a system through our mainland's Ernie Bot (AI model by Baidu) platform, which we hope will soon support and utilize various international languages to serve our customers," she says.

Wan Qingchao, executive vice-president of China Eastern Air Holding, says after five rounds of increased flights, the number of flights between the two countries has now increased to 92 flights per week.

Nevertheless, it's only 28 percent of the number before the pandemic.

"My colleagues and I are looking forward to more direct flights between the two countries to meet the needs of communication and exchanges, and to continue and deepen the friendship," Wan says.

Winning back visitors

The US counterparts at the summit say they are also on the move to win back Chinese travelers.

Julie Stufft, deputy assistant secretary for Visa Services with the US Department of State, says China was the number one demand market for US visas and the US side is very eager to get back to that level.

"We've done a few things to make that easier," Stufft says.

One is to have as few touch points as needed between the government and the traveler and to make it easier to get the interview that is needed, she adds.

Another thing is removing the interview requirement when possible. This policy has expanded last year, according to her.

"For example, a Chinese student studying in the United States coming back to China a year ago would have needed an interview to get a tourist visa after studying in the United States. Today an interview would not be necessary and we would just process that visa," she says, adding that the US is also working on keeping the wait time for visas as low as possible and trying to accommodate a visa applicant from any country on a business trip to places such as Tokyo, Frankfurt or Paris.

"That has been a game-changer for us in terms of processing numbers," Stufft says.

The US Consulate General in Wuhan, Hubei province, has also opened a new office, aiming to help more Chinese applicants to get interviews more quickly.

"We poured a lot of resources into being ready when the demand signal returns to what it was in 2015 and 2016, and even 2019. I'm really happy to say that this year so far we've done three times as many visa issuances in China over last year. That's a very strong signal in the right direction," Stufft says.

As the 10-year visa came out in 2014, Stufft says she anticipates that many Chinese travelers will want to renew that visa in 2025.

"We are ready for that to happen and we're excited that those folks won't need a visa interview at that point. You can just mail in your passport and it's done within a few days. It's very, very convenient," she says.

Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the US Travel Association, says although there are things discouraging travel that are beyond control, the issue of visas and better customs experiences can be addressed through future efforts.

"Another opportunity for us to improve is to look at various inconveniences that travelers confront," Freeman says.

He notices that one inconvenience is when many travelers visit the US, if they are moving on from a gateway city, they have to go through customs, get their bags and come back through the Transportation Security Administration's screening process to recheck everything.

"There isn't a seamless transfer that people can do in American airports right now, which we're trying to address," Freeman says.

"We created a commission of former government members who are experts in a wide variety of areas to help give us solutions that can improve traveler experience," he adds.

Good outlook

Participants at the summit say they are optimistic for the future, as the two governments have both shown positive attitudes in boosting tourism.

During the event, Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin noted that holding this summit is a measure to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state at the San Francisco meeting last year, and it will promote the recovery and development of China-US tourism cooperation, taking it to a new level.

China is willing to work with the US to deepen tourism cooperation, expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and lead mutual learning among civilizations, Shen says.

Shen adds that China will continue to work with the US to promote exchanges and cooperation in areas such as culture, education, sports and youth, and make positive contributions to the development of healthy, stable and sustainable China-US relations.

China warmly welcomes tourists from all over the world, including American tourists, and will strive to make it easier for foreigners to travel, work and live in China, Shen says.

At the meeting, Grant Harris, US assistant secretary of commerce for Industry and Analysis at the Department of Commerce, says an important factor in achieving the goal of the National Travel and Tourism Strategy proposed by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo almost two years ago is "the ability of the US travel and tourism industry to attract more Chinese travelers to visit the United States for leisure, business and education purposes".

It sets an overarching goal of attracting 90 million visitors to spend $279 billion annually by 2027, according to Harris.

"Before the pandemic in 2019, the US welcomed nearly 3 million Chinese visitors who spent $33 billion experiencing the country. China was our top overseas market for spending in the United States," he says.

In 2023, 1.1 million Chinese travelers visited the US, representing 38 percent of the pre-pandemic level, he adds.

"Restoring Chinese visitation to 2019 levels would support over 50,000 American jobs," he says.

The US anticipates that Chinese visitation will increase 150 percent from 2023 to 2025, 4.7 times faster than the rise in overall overseas visitation to the US during this time, according to Harris.

He stresses that this success cannot be achieved without gatherings like the summit and the continued dedication from both countries to find ways to enhance people-to-people exchanges.

"I know that my team is looking forward to working with you in the years to come. We encourage steps to provide a strong business environment to create opportunities for US companies operating in China," he says.