Two Thumbs Up for NTA’s Work in China

April 27, 2012

At International Pow Wow in Los Angeles, NTA shared a double dose of good news in regard to China:

Brand USA will partner with NTA to present the Discover America Pavilion at the China International Travel Mart, November 15-19 in Shanghai. CITM, produced by the China National Tourism Administration, is the largest professional travel expo in Asia, with last year’s fair attracting more than 100,000 visitors and 2,200 exhibitors. At the Discover America Pavilion, Brand USA and NTA will host U.S. companies and destinations seeking to enter or expand their presence among Chinese outbound travelers, a rapidly growing market.

Also this week, we learned that NTA took the top prize for the 2012 Chinese Tourists Welcoming Award, winning the Overall Performance category. The CTW Award, organized by the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, was presented in Beijing during the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market.

While the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries placed China at No. 9 among inbound markets last year, China ranked as the second-leading source of visitors handled by NTA tour operators. Overall, the number of visitors to the United States from China increased from 157,000 in 2003 to 1,089,000 in 2011. Projected visitation for 2014 is more than 2 million, with nearly 3 million visitors forecasted for 2016.