Arizona has promoted its outdoor attractions to draw visitors during another popular Chinese holiday.
Concerns among U.S. tourism agencies have grown as Beijing has warned that Chinese travelers to the United States may face harassment. Compounding the problem is increased difficulty in obtaining U.S. visas. Story continues"With the trade war, with some of the travel warnings, with some of our visa challenges that we've had, we've seen a little bit of a dip in Chinese visitors," said Theresa Belpulsi, a senior official at Destination DC, the city's tourism marketing office.
"The trade war creates a kind of environment in China that makes people think twice," Yu said."Even though we know that Chinese demand is high, the current environment makes people substitute the U.S. for another place." "There is no foreseeable indication this will be reversed in the near term," said Tim DeLessio of the DFS Group, parent company of DFS Hawaii.
But the number of Chinese who traveled abroad fell 15% during the week-long holiday compared with a year ago, according to the Chinese government. Many would-be tourists opted to stay home and experience the celebrations planned for the 70th anniversary of Communist Party rule. "We can't control the market conditions," said Christopher Heywood of NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing agency."The geopolitics comes into play."