Brazilian and Chinese visitors led a resurgence in foreign tourism spending within the U.S. in the first half of the year, giving hope to domestic hoteliers, airline companies and others that the travel-spending slump of 2008 and 2009 is over, according to a report released Wednesday.
Foreign tourists spent about 20% more here during the first six months of 2010 than they did a year earlier, Visa (V) reported. American citizens also boosted their spending abroad, increasing travel purchases on their Visa cards by 9.3% compared to the same period in …

Global business travel spending will increase 6.2 percent from a recession-depressed 2009, to $896 billion, according to a new report from the NBTA Foundation. Researchers expect the global figure to surpass the 2008 peak of $926 billion in 2011, with growth driven by strong trade conditions in Asia, healthy business travel volumes in the Middle East and Latin America, and double-digit business travel spending growth in several manufacturing sectors–offsetting continued weakness in Europe.
“At mid-year 2010, we have already seen many of the air and hotel indicators recovering more quickly than …

China’s outbound tourism will survive the coming economic downturn in China, because Chinese are not travelling for indiviual pleasure.

With the development of society, tourism, one of the sectors with the highest growth rate and the largest scale in the developing world has changed. Tourism industry is playing an increasingly important role in the city, promoting urban economic, social, employment, culture and environment. China is considered pillars of the tourism industry.
The previous three quarters of 2009, despite the financial crisis, and H1N1 influenza, the Chinese tourism industry managed to maintain favorable growth conditions. In Q1-Q3 2009, a number of domestic tourists in China is 45 billion, 11% increase over …

Japan has always been a hotspot tourist destination – with beautiful cherry blossoms, Mount Fiji looming on the horizon, tranquil Zen gardens, natural hot springs, and delicious seafood delicacies, people flock to Japan by the millions. This is also true for Chinese tourists, but not for the same reasons – Chinese are traveling to Japan to purchase, purchase, and purchase. The new generation of young Chinese white collar workers are looking to go to Japan to buy electronics and other products and is leaving the site seeing to the grandparents. …

The Euro has depreciated nearly 20 percent against the Yuan since 2009 – which means Chinese are planning trips to Europe to buy name brands at a “discounted” price. Name brands, such as Louis Vuitton, a Chinese favorite, are now cheaper in Europe than on the mainland including Hong Kong, an otherwise very popular place to shop for the pricey goods. According to an avid shopper, Li Yaoyi, “A 1,000-euro purse now costs about 8,000 yuan, which is about 1,400 yuan cheaper according to the converted price paid for the …

With South Korea’s promotional three year tourism campaign, Chinese people are taking advantage of this opportunity to live out their own epic Korean soap operas (that have risen in popularity with Chinese teens and grandmas alike). In 2010 – 2013, Korea plans to attract worldwide tourism that once took the world by storm, and it’s working like a charm for their Chinese neighbors. Korea has reported a 30% increase in tourism thus far in 2010 in comparison to 2009, and a whopping 70% increase in the month of May alone. …

CARSON CITY, NV — (Marketwire) — 08/13/10 — The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) is expanding its promotion in the lucrative Chinese travel market to Shanghai, while cutting office operating costs countrywide 50 percent, Lt. Gov. Brian K. Krolicki announced today.
The new office, which opens in Shanghai Aug. 18, is in the heart of the city’s business district in the U.S. Commercial Center and shares quarters with the U.S. Commerce Department and other American tourism-oriented agencies. The six-year-old Beijing office moves to a smaller facility. The total cost of office …

China’s central government says it will boost domestic tourism development by relaxing market access, welcoming foreign companies and slashing ticket prices for tourist spots.
The State Council has issued measures aimed at speeding up the development of China’s tourism industry. The government is looking to revitalize domestic tourism competition by introducing foreign tourism companies.
The government is about to loosen market access, break down industrial and regional market access, and streamline the administrative admission process. They are also vowing to push forward the transformation …

More and more countries have been trying to attract tourists from China. Vietnam has taken steps to lure more travelers from its northern neighbor. According to the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute, in 2008, Chinese people made 46 million trips abroad, 90 percent of which were trips to Asia. China has become the biggest source of tourists in Asia, which explains why popular tourist destinations in Asia have launched numerous campaigns to attract tourists from China.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the number of Chinese …

Just how how hard can it be, asks Sina blogger and freelance journalist Chen Zikun in his August 6 post, for Chinese travelers to get a visa—with Chen’s answer apparently being: not too hard—in which he shares the stories behind visas for the many countries he’s been to:
Until I went to apply for a visa for my first ever trip out of the country, I was always happily under the impression that, being from a country with a rapidly-developing economy, and especially with how smug red-to-the-root media …

China-USA air travel veteran on the state of outbound travel
China TravelDaily by Maggie Rauch
As a growing number of Chinese travel abroad for business and leisure, competition to lure mainland travelers is also heating up. One of the people responsible for steering mainland travelers to the United States, and one of the most experienced aviation professionals working in China today, is Delta Airlines’ Director & Chief Representative of China & Hong Kong, Sandeep Bahl. Bahl has worked in aviation for more than two decades, and has been stationed in either Japan …

PRESS RELEASE
August 5, 2010: TravelDaily (www.traveldaily.cn), China’s leading online publisher and event organizer with emphasis on the distribution, marketing and technology trends in the travel and tourism industries, today announced that it has welcomed Amadeus as a diamond sponsor for the 2010 China Travel Distribution Summit, to be held in Beijing on September 15-16.
Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, has proven its distribution technology can maximize revenues and increase efficiency for all sectors of the travel industry in Asia, including …

More and more stores and cash machines in Japan are featuring signs that read “Union Pay.” That is the name of a debit card used in China and informs Chinese tourists that they can shop anywhere in Japan using that piece of plastic. The number of stores accepting Union Pay cards in Japan rose from just 250 in 2005 to almost 20,000 this year. Chinese tourists are big spenders and Japanese travel agencies have hired Chinese students to help them guide the travelers to shopping districts, while department stores in …

According to a report from the Tourism Ministry of Argentina on the 31st, since the number of Chinese tourists to Argentina has substantially increased in recent years, the Tourism Ministry of Argentina will actively expand the Chinese market to attract more Chinese tourists.
According to statistical data released by the Tourism Ministry of Argentina, the number of Chinese tourists to Argentina has soared by 25% in the first half of 2010 compared with the corresponding period of the last year of 15,000.
Enrique Meyer, Secretary …

China wants to learn from Malaysia’s experience in developing its islands into major international tourist destinations, while also preserving the island’s eco-system.
A Chinese delegation led by the head of China’s top tourism administration Shao Qiwei, arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Shao Qiwei said Malaysia’s experience in this area is important for China which wants to develop its Hainan Island into a popular tourist destination.
Malaysia’s tourism department said it will consider co-operating with China, to develop cruise tourism as a new product. The Chinese delegation will also visit Pangkor and …

The number of Japanese entry visas issued to Chinese tourists has jumped 6.6-fold this month year-on-year after Tokyo eased entry requirements to attract more Chinese visitors, the Asahi Shimbun said Thursday.
Japan National Tourism Organization said a daily average of 378 tourist visas were issued to Chinese July 8-23, up from 57 over the same period last year.
On July 1, Japan relaxed visa rules by cutting the salary requirement to 60,000 yuan (8,848 U.S. dollars) or more per year for a Chinese to be eligible for a tourist visa, a significant …

The Hong Kong Tourism Board has reported that the number of tourist arrivals in the SAR hit a record 16.86 million in the first half of 2010 — up 23.1% from the previous year.
The report adds that June, a total of 2.62 million tourists visited Hong Kong, up 43.5% year on year.
The tourism board also points out that the Chinese mainland has become a major source of tourists. In the first six months, 10.48 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong — 26.9% more than in the same period of last …

Chinese holiday makers will be allowed to travel to Canada on tourist visas from August 15th.
Tours to the north American country, famous for its picturesque “maple trees”, will charge around 30-thousand yuan per tourist. But the hefty cost isn’t cooling enthusiasm. Travel agents have more than a hundred tourists booked for the inaugural group tour.

South Korea will drastically ease visa restrictions for Chinese visitors who are becoming the major customers of its tourism market, the justice ministry said Tuesday.
From August 1 multiple-entry visas will be issued to employees of China’s top 500 companies, schoolteachers, pensioners, holders of various professional licences and graduates of prestigious colleges, it said.
The multiple-entry visa would allow them to enter South Korea freely for up to three years, the ministry said.
Currently it is offered only to people from advanced countries, owners of platinum or gold-class credit cards and professionals like …