BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment
Los Angeles opens Beijing tourism office
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-09 15:10
The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a five-year budget of 4
million US dollars for the city's newly opened tourism office in Beijing.
Los Angeles World Airports and L.A. Inc. -- the city's convention and
visitor's bureau -- will split the cost of operating the office, which
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa opened during his recent 14-day trade mission
to Asia.
Los Angeles is the first city in the world to have such an office in
China, city officials said.
Villaraigosa said last month in Beijing while opening the office that the
office would be a permanent welcome mat for the tens of millions of
Chinese tourists who will visit Los Angeles in the coming years.
China currently ranks seventh worldwide in total travel expenditures, and
is expected to rank second by 2015. The country is also Los Angeles'
fastest-growing overseas visitor market.
According to the Los Angeles mayor's office, the number of visitors from
China increased by 41 percent in 2003-04, and by an additional 26 percent
in 2004-05, while of the 12.9 billion dollars in direct visitor spending
in the city last year, some 78 million dollars was generated by visitors
from China.
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