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Europe and Asia will claim a healthy share of these explorers, but the U.S. is among the top nations the Chinese want to see, from Niagara Falls to the Grand Canyon and all manner of towns in between. Las Vegas is among several destinations angling to get an early jump on Chinese travelers and the heavy expenditures they often make while abroad. Helping airports do so is a new company called China Ni Hao, an offshoot of Boyd Group International, a Colorado-based aviation consultancy run by former industry executives Mike and Marianne Boyd, who used to focus on helping airports attract new routes and new airlines.
New York-based China Ni Hao is marketing its trademarked “China Welcome” program for U.S. airports and other destinations that expect—or desperately hope to see—a cascade of up to 23 million Chinese visitors by 2021, and all the money they bring. These travelers don’t scrimp: they average a total spend of as much as USD 8,000 per trip, thanks in part to a penchant for authentic luxury goods. The expansion of airport signage, digital outreach, and other Chinese-welcoming strategies is a natural evolution of traffic flows, given the extraordinary growth of China-U.S. travel, Boyd said. An additional reason for the airports’ interest in welcome programs is that Chinese visitors, especially younger ones, are beginning to travel abroad independently. |
