Gary Locke: Still promoting exchanges

Editor's note: This story is one in a series by China Daily USA that marks the 2016 US-China Tourism Year. President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama declared the year-long program of activities during Xi's state visit to the US in September 2015.

Former US ambassador to China reflects on what's ahead in toursim and world affairs

Gary Locke, the former US ambassador to China, has led US public and private sector efforts to strengthen US-China relations over 30 years. He travels to China up to seven times each year to help Chinese and US companies on cross-border trade and US-China relations. In this Q&A with China Daily USA, he shares his insights on the future of US-China tourism.

Q: Does your current job also involve bilateral relations?

It is a continuation of what I was doing as US ambassador, US commerce secretary and governor of Washington state, which is to help promote bilateral relations, economic, people-to-people, scientific and cultural relationships between our two countries.

Q: Which Chinese city is your favorite? For first-time visitors to China, which city would you recommend going to?

My family very much enjoys exploring China. We enjoyed visiting Xi'an, Kunming, Sichuan province down in the south, and Shanghai and Guangzhou. To get a good and true picture of China, I would say don't just go to cities like Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, but also go to the heartland of China; go to cities like Xi'an, Chengdu or the countryside and mountains. You can really experience the urban China, the rural China and the scenic beauty of China.

Q: President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama declared 2016 the year of China-US Tourism. This recognizes both US tourism to China and China visitation to the US. To the US, what does China's outbound tourism mean?

China has spent the most money on international tourism in the world. The amount of spending by Chinese tourists going abroad is three times higher than that by American tourists. China is expected to send 3 million tourists to the United States, and America probably will send tourists close to that number to China. Both countries benefit from this international tourism.

China's outbound tourism is good for our economy. When tourists come, they will shop at the malls, eat at restaurants, sleep in hotels and rent cars, which means jobs to us.

So we very much support that and desire that. It is made easier because we have instituted new visa policies. When I arrived in Beijing as ambassador, the US visa application process could take more than 100 days for Chinese people to get a visa interview. The long wait made Chinese who are interested in buying and touring in the US go to Canada and Europe.

Now we have made progress by offering 10-year visas to Chinese tourists. The new visa policy makes it easier for Chinese to come to the United States. I think we will see more and more tourists from China in the future.

Q: The First World Conference on Tourism for Development will be held this year in Beijing from May 18-21 with the specific goal of advancing the contributions of tourism to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) under the theme "Tourism for Peace and Development". It is expected that several heads of state and government as well as tourism ministers and senior officials from more than 100 countries will participate in this gathering. How likely is the conference to help develop China's tourism industry?

The conference is meaningful because it will help China to improve its tourism industry with information about the latest trends and predictions about international travel and help China better respond to the future demands of international tourism.

Q: You have said that the key to good bilateral relations is people-to-people exchange. Now China's inbound and outbound market, with an annual capacity of millions of visits, has become a major platform for China to strengthen ties with the United States. What do you think of China's "tourism diplomacy" strategy?

Tourism is very important for people all around the world in order to understand the people, the language, the customs and the culture of other countries. From that greater understanding comes diplomacy. Diplomacy first starts with people-to-people exchange.

Q:From your perspective, what should China do to better promote travel between China and the United States?

In addition to better promotional plans, I think easy access to well-designed packaged tours with a variety of options for international tourists to choose from is important. So foreign visitors can tour not only the cities in the east, but also can enjoy cities in the heartland with historical sites and natural scenery to get a real flavor of China.

lindadeng@chinadailyusa.com