SeeCalifornia.com

Photo: Future California travelers – students on a bus in Shanghai, China

My how times change! “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” was a movie in 1967 that broke ground with Sidney Portier playing the African American dinner guest of a Caucasian girl (played by Katharine Houghton) who shocked her conventional parents  trying to be cool while coping with the surprise that their daughter’s love interest was not what (or who) they expected.

Roll forward 45 years to 2012 and Guess Who’s Coming to California? Chinese are a growing tourist population with money to spend and favorable laws that now make it easy for non-Americans to purchase property if they like what they see in our fair state.

Last year was the biggest year in California history for hotel sales and transactions, with more than $5.3 billion in hotel properties passing hands–including some sales to Chinese investors. While Americans flocked to see China and buy  affordable goods no more than a few years ago, the tables are turning. Last year (2011) bookings to the United States by Chinese travelers increased by an average of 16 to 20%, with around one million Chinese visiting and spending an average of around $6,000 for a trip.

In California, domestic travel was around 200 million people in the state. Arrivals from Asia were up over 20%, driven by Chinese arrivals to California, which saw more than a  50% increase. Perhaps the Chinese are looking for gifts that are not made in China, but are Made in America. If we have little to sell, we at least have our weather, mountains, deserts, national parks, beaches and great hotels to capture tourist dollars and help us return to a time when average citizens could afford to visit China.