LA tops Chinese tourist bucket list

Tourism insiders in Los Angeles are optimistic that the Chinese market will continue to grow in the next few years despite recent economic challenges, such as the strength of the dollar against the yuan and the volatile stock market in China.

"That market is so deep that it will survive these challenges," Ernest Wooden Jr, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, told China Daily.

Wooden said that his group has been closely watching the economic situation in China and has consulted analysts at Tourism Economics, a group the board uses to help calculate economic factors.

"We believe the Chinese market is very elastic, and of course, very, very big - 1.4 billion citizens. So our estimates are the demand for visiting Los Angeles will continue at least, as far as we can see, into the next couple of years," said Wooden, adding that he expects double-digit increases in the future.

Much of the Chinese "fascination" with Los Angeles, according to Wooden, is because much of what they know of the United States, in terms of its culture and people, slang and fashion, comes from movies and television.

Young Chinese can see things about America through the lenses of television and movies, said Wooden. "This all comes together to make them want to see for themselves what Los Angeles looks like."

According to Visit California, a non-profit organization tasked with marketing California tourism, the top three "motivating California features" for Chinese are all in Los Angeles: Disneyland, Hollywood and Universal Studios Hollywood.

"We are very lucky to have the reputation of being a must-see destination to the Chinese market," said Lisa Pisaturo, director of international and domestic tourism sales at Universal Studios Hollywood. She said they hadn't seen much of a slowdown this year for Chinese New Year, and are seeing continual growth in the Chinese market.

"We experienced double-digit growth over last year, so that's an indication to us that it hasn't really affected the group that's traveling," she said. "The middle class and the affluent Chinese families may spend less on shopping, but it sounds like, from everything we hear, there are still big groups that will be traveling.

"We are opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood on April 7, and we believe it will be an additional attraction for Chinese families, since so many children in China grew up with Harry Potter," she added.

Last year, 780,000 Chinese people visited Los Angeles, and they spent more than $1.1 billion there as China surpassed Canada for the first time as the second-largest source of international tourists..

The aggressive outreach efforts include offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as well as two programs called "China Ready" and "NiHao (Hello) China", aimed at helping the tourism industry in Southern California better serve Chinese tourists.

"We think there are many Chinese that aspire to come to Los Angeles, a bucket-list kind of destination," Wooden said.