We Want You: Boston to Chinese Tourists

choi

Leon Neyfakh, Look, Honey, the Sky; As Boston scrambles to court Chinese tourists, it’s spotlighting some unexpected virtues of the city. Boston Globe, Sept 22, 2013.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas ... SL0ufdsK/story.html

Quote:

"Last year they spent $102 billion globally, according to the UN World Tourism Organization—40 percent more than the year before, making them the world’s highest-spending tourist group for the first time ever. The US Department of Commerce counted about 1.5 million Chinese visitors to America in 2012—up by almost 200 percent since 2008—for a total 'spend' of $8.8 billion.

"Right now, that [visiting Boston or New England] is not what most Chinese tourists do when they visit America. Instead—as part of large, organized tour groups—they tend to fly into New York or California, which have direct flights connecting them to Beijing and Shanghai, and which attract by far the largest share of the Chinese tourists bound for the United States. From there, travelers take buses to see as many nearby sites as they can, often at a breakneck pace. Boston tends to be nothing more than a daylong interlude on the bus tour from New York, with visitors disembarking in Cambridge to see Harvard and MIT before continuing on their journeys. Those sorts of visits brought in a little less than $300 million [out of $8.8 billion] last year, according to a report commissioned by the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"In light of China’s growing concerns about pollution, Boston looks practically like a spa destination, a city defined by good health.


Note:
(a) In print, there is a caption for the photo of a Chinese couple looking upward:

"'You even can see and hear birds in Boston, something unthinkable in Chinese cities.' WOLFGANG GEORG ARLT, founder of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute"
(i) At first I did not know what to make of it: Sarcastic? Or mentioning a fact deadpan?  After reading the article, I choose the latter.  
(ii) The text introduces: "Wolfgang Georg Arlt, a professor of tourism in Germany and founder of a research firm that publishes reports on trends in Chinese tourism * * * founder of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, or COTRI"

(b) "To those who live here, it [Boston] can feel snarled and frenzied"

snarl (vt): "to cause to become knotted and intertwined : TANGLE"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarl
(c) Sunshine Travel Services
http://www.sunshineboston.com/
(d) "Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism running seminars for local hotel operators, retailers, and restaurateurs about the quirks of Chinese travelers—that they like warm soy milk at breakfast, for instance, and appreciate it when their rooms come with complimentary slippers and instant noodle cups in the minibar."

Americans buy soy milk from supermarkets, in a packing similar to Parmalat (brick-like paper box lined with aluminum foil), stored in a refrigerator and drink cold.
(e) “'It’s that old adage,' said Moscaritolo. ‘"You’re never a visitor in your own home city.”'

Well, I have not heard of it, and can not find it in the Web.

(f) "On a recent night in August, a group of about 15 Chinese journalists gathered in the backyard of the city-owned Parkman House, enjoying some wine before a 'Taste of New England'-themed dinner. The next day, they would travel to Plymouth, and the day after that, Cape Cod. 'Every one of these international visitors is a walking stimulus package!' exclaimed Moscaritolo, who helped plan the trip in hopes of inspiring the journalists to publish stories telling their readers to come to New England."
(i) I do not know how it was possible to hold a dinner in Parkman House, where Boston mayor entertains guests.
(ii) Tilo Schabert, Boston Politics; The creativity of power. in deGruyter Studies on North America, vol 4
http://books.google.com/books?id ... e&q&f=false
(at page 47: "The stage of the Mayor [of Boston] was the Parkman House, an elegant townhouse on Beacon Hill, Boston's most fashionable neighborhood. At the Parkman House the Mayor received those visitors whom he wanted to treat with special care")
(iii) Parkman House (Tuckerman-Parkman House). Historic American Buildings Survey, National Partk Service, US Department of the Interior, undated (HABS No. MA-965)
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habsha ... ata/ma0474data.pdf.
("The house was built on land that was originally part of the [John] Hancock estate; the
Hancock house was located a short distance to the east. [The house was built in 1821. In 1853,] it was sold to the widow of Dr George Parkman for $40,000. Parkman's son George, who died in 1908, bequeathed the house to the City of Boston as part of his very large endowment of the City's parks")
(iv) George Parkman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Parkman
(1790-1849; a doctor)

A Harvard professor was convicted of murdering him and dismembered and burned the body and later hanged.
(v) Stimulus Package
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulus_Package
(may refer to: government spending meant as an economic stimulus as part of a fiscal policy)

(g) "It’s well known, for instance, that Chinese travelers love to shop, because the steep sales tax in China makes luxury goods so much more expensive there."
(i) It seems to me that what China slaps on luxury goods is not sales tax, but consumption tax and tarriff.
(ii) China to deepen tax reforms: financial minister. Xinhua, Aug 28, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/englis ... /28/c_132671553.htm

Buried in the report is: Financial Minister Lou Jiwei says consumption tax will also be applicable to more luxury goods and high-end entertainment
(iii) China to Place Consumption Tax on More Luxury Goods, Xinhua Says. Bloomberg, Aug 28, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/20 ... ds-xinhua-says.html
("China will widen the scope of its consumption tax to include more luxury goods, the official Xinhua News Agency reported * * * High consumption and import taxes are already driving Chinese buyers to make luxury purchases overseas rather than at home. * * * The news agency didn't specify which which new items will be taxed. The country already has consumption taxes on a variety products, including taxes of as much as 20 percent for high-end watches, and 5 percent on gold, silver, platinum and diamond jewelry, according to research by HSBC Holdings Plc. Gen sets are subject to a 10 percent consumer tariff")

(h) "The nature of these pitches demonstrates that the appeal of America isn’t always what Americans assume it is. In some ways, we’re an older economy now than China, and visitors from a land of towering apartment buildings and levitating trains will be less surprised by our gleaming skyscrapers than they are charmed by our old-fashioned parks, our bodies of water, and the height restrictions in our neighborhoods."
(i) "In some ways, we’re an older economy now than China"  

That is because urban renewal in China is afoot at an astonishing pace, with mary ultra-modern architectural designs.
(ii) Height restriction on buildings, that is--unless builders obtain a waiver from local government (city or town).