MINNEAPOLIS, the United States, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- China is one of the largest source markets for Minnesota's international visitors and the midwestern U.S. state aims to attract more Chinese tourists, a tourism expert said.
"China as one market is much more heavily invested by us than any other market that we target because of the potential," Beth Helle, senior partner relations manager of Explore Minnesota, a state agency charged with the promotion of the tourism industry, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
She said Minnesota expects more Chinese tourists and wants to make it easier for them to arrive.
"The businesses in both countries know that there's great benefit with tourism and the exchange of tourism."
Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", Minnesota relies on travel industry as one of its key industries.
"We have a very large state here and we only have a population of five million people," Helle said, noting that the fresh air, wide open spaces, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and University of Minnesota are some of the major attractions for visitors.
Minnesota is not necessarily looked at as one of those leading tourism destinations, she conceded.
"From an international perspective, this would be like a third or fourth visit to the United States when they really get into the heart. Most people tried to do the coast first, and then kind of worked their way into the heartland," she said.
Statistics from Explore Minnesota showed that compared to the prior year, visitor arrivals to the state from China dropped 4.5 percent and visitor spending dropped 5.8 percent in 2018, the first decline in more than a decade.
Meanwhile,latest data from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office showed the number of Chinese tourists traveling to the United States fell 6 percent to 3 million in 2018, the first decrease in 15 years.
Helle voiced her concern about the amount of visas that had been declined over the past several years. In her eyes, that is more of a threat which is probably affecting the growth of tourism.
The trade conflicts between the United States and China is certainly something that people are very aware of, she said. And it tends to impact not only tourism, but a lot of Americans' daily lives and consumption.
"The great thing about tourism is that it's about people going to visit other cultures. And travel is kind of that bridge to cultural understanding," Helle said.
She said she used to work for Minneapolis, the biggest city in Minnesota, whose sister city in China is Harbin, the capital of China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
"There were always so many great cultural exchanges and so many things that we learned from the city of Harbin. They would bring people over here to learn from the city of Minneapolis. It's all about sharing, exchanging, learning from each other, appreciating, respecting, understanding."
There's never a straight line to growth, Helle said. "We're hopeful that the future brings good things and better trade relationships, and happier time for traveling."
