Chinese investors now looking for hotels to house their tourists?
This story was originally published March 21, 2015 by the Sun News in Myrtle Beach
Now that Yiqian Funding has a significant stake in the Grand Strand golf industry and has announced it hopes to bring golfers from mainland China, Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said Friday, “I think the next move is on accommodations.”
He said he doesn’t have any specifics, but he knows representatives of the group are being shown properties, and they’re asking him how high they can build.
“I would say the all-American way is that anything is available,” he said.
Money talks.
So too will the tourist dollars that Chinese could bring with them. As international travelers, they spend more per capita per trip than any other nationality. Middle and upper class Chinese travelers spend 19 percent of their annual salary on international travel, and they routinely buy luxury items while away from home, according to Brand USA, a group that promotes international travel to America.
Yiqian Funding, a Chinese investment company that has purchased eight Strand golf courses in the past six months, has recently spawned travel, golf and real estate departments to support its foray into Myrtle Beach, according to Xian ‘Nick’ Dou, a New York immigration attorney who has represented the company in the course sales.
No one knows yet how big a slice of Strand tourism the Chinese could capture.
“It’s too early to tell,” Rhodes said. “This is a work in progress.”
Brad Dean, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said he knows of two ways the area could benefit from Chinese vacationers.
“First,” he said, “we are a very competitive golf destination, so for those Chinese interested in learning golf or playing golf, we could very well become a destination of choice.
“Likewise, we can be included on a multi-city itinerary for a short trip.”
Changes in Chinese visa policy will undoubtedly grease the wheel. Only recently, China changed the rules so that international travelers can get visas for travel to the U.S. that have a 10-year duration.
That means while they likely would go to a gateway city -- San Francisco, New York, Boston -- on their first trip to the U.S., subsequent trips could include travel to less-known destinations such as the Grand Strand.
“The change in visa processing is likely to benefit communities like ours more so than the major gateway cities,” Dean said.
He said that interest among Chinese for travel to the U.S. surged with promotions in recent years by Brand USA and the visa extensions.
“Economists estimate that in the next five years, China is positioned to be the biggest supplier of international tourists to the U.S. outside of North America,” he said.
But Rhodes believes the impact would come even sooner if marketers aimed their pitches closer to home.
“We forget about the Asians who live in America east of the Mississippi,” he said. “We’re not getting their business.”
Rhodes suggested that a campaign in Mandarin aimed at Chinese who live in the U.S. could reap big benefits for the Strand.
“I think that’s the quickest term,” he said.
More foreign investment will come as more learn about the potential of the Grand Strand, Rhodes predicted.
But because it’s not New York or San Francisco or one of the big cities Chinese know well, a place the size of the Grand Strand can make them “sit back and look longer.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Chinese investors now looking for hotels to house their tourists?."