Society

Chinese tourists to pitch $30M shopping spree in NYC

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-11 11:46
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More than 1,000 Chinese tourists will descend on New York City on a shopping spree expected to hit US$30 million around the Spring Festival, the Global Times citing an American newspaper reported Thursday.

The tourist groups are said to be the largest the Big Apple has ever seen, the Los Angeles-based Chinese-language newspaper World Journal said.

The visitors, all departing from Shanghai, will scatter along the east coast, from Washington to Miami with an itinerary laced with stops at brand shops, before swarming back to NYC on February 16 for a mass party.

The tour events are deemed to impress the Americans about their Chinese counterparts' shopping vim, said the Nantong-based travel agent Sun Island Travel Service, one of the organizers.

George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, the metropolis’ tourism promotion agent, said NYC harbors the largest Chinese population in America and the upcoming Chinese tourists are warmly welcomed to join the city’s annual Chinatown ceremonies, featuring lunar New Year parade, firecracker as well as a dumpling workshop this year.