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Continuous tourism summit exchanges between the United States and China have created 340,000 job opportunities.
Over 4 million tourists traveled between the U.S. and China last year, with each country becoming the other's fourth biggest tourist destination, according to a top tourism official in China.
China National Tourism Administration director Shao Qiwei said that the annual figures of Chinese tourists traveling to the U.S. rose 14.2 percent, equivalent to 1.97 million Chinese travelers.
During the eighth China-U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit in Xiamen, Shao said that, by 2020, the number of tourists from China traveling to the U.S. will go up to 20 million.
The China-U.S. summit was co-organized by Brand USA and the China National Tourism Administration. The event aims to act as a bridge to promote tourism and collaboration between the two countries.
The summit was first set up in 2007 and is held alternately between the U.S. and China's cities. Previously hosted summits in China were held in Nanjing, Shanghai and Qingdao.
Chinese tourists who traveled last year to the U.S. spent $9.8 billion with a $5,414 average for each, while last year's U.S. tourists in China spent $6.3 billion with a $3,036 average for each, disclosed Shao.
"Thanks to the Sino-U.S. tourism exchanges in the past eight years, more than 340,000 jobs have been created in total in the two countries," said Shao.
Shao also said that second- and third-tier cities should also cooperate to boost tourism.
Brand USA chief executive Chris Thompson said that promoting several undistinguished cities to Chinese tourists is one major goal for their corporation. Included in the promotion was the establishment of new visa-processing hubs in China.
Three states in the U.S. just began marketing in China, according to Brand USA Asia managing director Michael Merner.
Recently, Utah representatives visited China to promote their state. Michigan and Illinois representatives will also visit to promote other cities next month.
