TENSIONS STRESS TOURISM OFFICIALS
Official hopes China trade war doesn’t unravel travel
Chinese tourists, and the money they spend here, are a top concern for Boston tourist officials as trade tensions between the U.S. and China heat up.
“When people say, `What keeps you up at night?’ — it’s if the Chinese all of a sudden aren’t allowed to travel here. It would be a huge hit to all of New England,” said Pat Moscaritolo, head of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. “They are the No. 1 source country now for all of New England. The growth has been phenomenal.”
The GBCVB has been working with its member businesses for the past few years on ways to cater to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists who come to Boston every year. More than 265,000 tourists are expected to come to Boston this year, Moscaritolo said, up from 105,000 in 2013.
Chinese tourists make up about 15 percent of all international travelers to the area, Moscaritolo said, but account for more than a third of all spending.
“They stay longer and spend more,” Moscaritolo said.
Boston Duck Tours’ Bob Schwartz said the company has a number of Chinese tour groups every day.
“We just want to make our guests, no matter where they’re coming from, (accomodated by) our guest services,” he said.
The company already offers tours in Mandarin and Cantonese, but in May added WeChat Pay and AliPay, mobile payment systems used extensively in China. Since then, 112 purchases have been made through those systems, he said.
“It’s not obviously a ton, but as we’re getting into our busier season, we’re expecting it to ramp up,” Schwartz said. “We’re able to cater to more Chinese that are coming that might not have the means or the cash on them.”
The Mandarin Oriental in Boston added the same payment platforms last month, saying the move is meant to attract more Chinese travelers.
“What we’re trying to do is to get the industry to begin using the apps, because this is what the Chinese customer wants,” Moscaritolo said.
Though China is the top country for tourists — ahead of the United Kingdom — the GBCVB and local businesses are putting forth such a concentrated effort because of the massive potential impact from the Chinese market.
“What draws this laser-like focus we’ve had the past couple of years is the incredible number of Chinese that are now moving into the middle class,” Moscaritolo said.
Much of the growth is helped by an increase in recent years in direct flights to Boston’s Logan International Airport. There are regular flights from Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.