Order the Book

The Chinese Dream Trailer

Translate

Google Ads

Archives

The Trumps May Bring More Chinese Travelers To The U.S.

Ivanka Trump speaks, as President Trump listens, during a meeting with women small business owners in the White House on March 27, 2017. (Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

Despite Trump’s anti-China rhetoric during his campaign, more Chinese are choosing the U.S. as their next travel destination.

A survey by Brand USA reveals that the Chinese are the only group indicating that the political climate in the United States under Donald Trump has made them more likely to visit the country than before. This puts them in stark contrast to every other country surveyed, which includes Mexico, Canada, and Australia. Continue reading The Trumps May Bring More Chinese Travelers To The U.S.

China’s Middle Class: New Global Travelers

Recently, I was interviewed by Travel Weekly, a national newspaper of travel industry, on increasing Chinese travelers and how they affect the travel industry in the U. S. Below is an excerpt of my conversation with Diane Merlino, editor in chief of Travel Weekly PLUS:

Merlino: How do you define the Chinese middle class?
Wang: Chinese middle class households earn between $10,000 and $60,000 a year, but those figures can be misleading because the cost of living in China is very different from what it is the West. In the U.S. you can’t even get by on $10,000, but in China $10,000 is the beginning of having a lot of purchasing power in certain areas, especially in smaller cities. In Shanghai, the cost of living is quite high; that’s why there is that range in income.

So, the rule of thumb I use is a family is considered middle class in China if the household has a third of its income available for discretionary spending.

Merlino: Give us an idea of the size of the Chinese middle class and the growth rate of that demographic.
Wang: Five years ago, when my book first came out, the Chinese middle class was estimated at 250 million to 300 million people. Today, the middle class has reached an estimated 450 million people, and we’re projected to reach 800 million middle-class Chinese by 2025.

….

Merlino: How important is travel to the Chinese middle class?
Wang: 
A lot of Chinese have a desire to travel because China was closed 30 or 40 years ago. Very few people traveled during that time, but now that China is opening travel, to go see the world is a life goal for a lot of people. The younger generation, those in their 20s and 30s, are traveling a lot. If they have less money, they travel within China, but now when I travel around the world I see so many younger Chinese. It’s amazing. Continue reading China’s Middle Class: New Global Travelers