With their biggest national holidays approaching in February, many Chinese have begun signing up for travel packages to the United States, adding to a major source of West Coast tourism.

Chinese and American travel agents closely monitor the burgeoning market of middle-class Chinese families heading for trips during an otherwise slow winter season for US tourism.

The California Travel and Tourism Commission, the state's official travel promoter, and four Chinese tourism companies have jointly launched a project with the goal of attracting 1,500 Spring Festival vacationers from China.

Chinese Lunar New Year, also called Spring Festival, begins on Feb 10 this year and lasts a week. It's actually one of two long public holidays in China - stretching beyond two weeks when combined with the Lantern Festival, which begins on the 15th day of the first lunar month (Feb 24 this year).

The bigger objective is to make California the top destination for Chinese travelers during Spring Festival, said the commission's president, Caroline Beteta.

Helen Tsui, director of Asia-Pacific tourism for the San Francisco Travel Association, said China is an important and growing market for the city.

"We are one of the first destinations that established representation offices in Shanghai and Beijing - more than 15 years ago. We work very closely with "Visit California" on their programs and initiatives for China," she said, referring to the marketing brand of the state travel and tourism commission.

As a member of its China Ready program, Tsui participated in the commission's sales mission to China in November, where the project to attract 1,500 Chinese holiday visitors arose.

"Since last year, our Shanghai office has also been working with five leading outbound tour operators in Shanghai to launch the Western America tour package targeting the Chinese New Year holiday," she said.

This year's program, Tsui said, involves the Shanghai offices of China Travel Service, China International Travel Service, China Youth Travel Service, Jinjiang Tours Co and SAL. There will be four groups departing between Feb 7 and 10 for a nine-day package covering San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

"Our offices in China work very closely with the travel trade and do promotions with them from time to time," Tsui said.

Preliminary figures show that Chinese citizens made more than 80 million trips to other countries in 2012, Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said on Thursday.

On the other side of the ledger, China saw a continued steady inflow of foreign tourists, Dai said. Around the world, people made an estimated 1 billion trips to foreign lands in 2012, with China on its way to becoming the No 1 source of cross-border tourism, according to the United Nations' World Tourism Organization.

The US remains a popular destination for globe-hopping Chinese, and the important Lunar New Year holiday is a busy time for travel.

Li Zhi, a 31-year-old engineer from Beijing, got tired of the huge crowds that line up in Chinese cities at this time of year to buy train tickets back to their hometowns. He found he could beat the February travel rush and stay within his travel budget by taking a 12-day trip to the US.

"I'll pay for my parents' travel expenses and have a special Spring Festival with them in the United States this year," Li said.

Generous holiday spending indicates to friends and family that one is on good financial footing. "Not to mention, spending the holiday in the US is very cool and worth showing off!" he exclaimed.

Zhang Huiling, deputy manager of the American travel department at China CYTS Tours Holding Co, said her firm designed two itineraries for Chinese visitors - a 12-day West Coast trip or a 15-day tour across the US.

Prices range between 24,800 yuan ($4,000) and 31,800 yuan depending on departure times and airline, Zhang said.

This year's West Coast route includes three national parks: Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Bryce Canyon and Zion in Utah. Two days' accommodation for Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is another selling point.

Wang Qian, head of American travel at CITS Ltd, said a trip to the US during Spring Festival is cheaper than in the peak season from July to September.

Sarah Roach, tourism manager at Bloomingdale's department store in San Francisco, said she expects Chinese travelers will do plenty of shopping during their holiday sojourn. She said Bloomingdale's will have a number of special promotions for Lunar New Year, with events throughout the store including traditional lion dancers, musicians, art exhibits, feng shui presentations, tea and dim sum tastings, and celebrity chefs.

The San Francisco store has more than 40 sales clerks who speak Mandarin and Cantonese, she said.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that the city welcomed an estimated 41 million US visitors and 11 million international visitors in 2012. Helping drive the upward trend are tourists from China, whose numbers have surged by 442 percent since 2006, according to NYC & Co, the city's official tourism promotion arm.

chenjia@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 01/04/2013 page1)