由于贸易战和安全问题，中国公民不愿前往美国旅行 [美国媒体]

China claims its citizens are 'reluctant' to travel to US given trade war, safety concerns

由于贸易战和安全问题，中国公民不愿前往美国旅行


China claims its citizens are "reluctant to visit" the United States given the escalating trade tussle and safety concerns, even as tourism agencies in the U.S. say they see no current evidence of a slowdown.

中国声称，鉴于不断升级的贸易争端和安全问题，中国公民“不愿访问”美国，尽管美国的旅游机构表示他们目前没有看到中国游客数量减少的迹象。

China's state-controlled Global Times tabloid reported on Wednesday that "interest in traveling to the U.S. has withered as peak vacation season approaches."

中国官方控制的《环球时报》周三报道称，在暑期旺季临近之时，“前往美国旅游的兴趣已经减弱”。

It's the latest salvo in the growing tensions between the two nations. Tourism is a rich vein that China can tap to hurt the U.S. economy. Chinese tourists rank as top foreign spenders in the United States and summer is traditionally one of the peak times of year for tourists traveling from mainland China and Hong Kong to California and other U.S. locations.

这是两国关系日益紧张背景下的最新攻势。旅游业是中国可以利用的一种伤害美国经济的有效方式。中国游客是在美国消费最多的外国游客群体，而夏季通常是从中国大陆和香港到加州和其他美国地方旅游的游客的高峰时段。

The Global Times article cited data from Mafengwo, a local trip-planning site, that showed searches down in the first six months of 2018 for major American travel destinations such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

《环球时报》的这篇文章引用了当地的旅游规划网站蚂蜂窝的数据，该网站显示，在2018年的前6个月，美国主要的旅游目的地如洛杉矶、纽约、旧金山和拉斯维加斯的搜索量都有所下降。

The paper said the data from Mafengwo also showed increased interest in travel to Russia and some European countries, including France. It said the switch to other destinations "could hurt" key sectors of the U.S. economy that rely on tourism.

该报称，来自蚂蜂窝的数据也显示出中国人对俄罗斯和包括法国在内的一些欧洲国家的旅游兴趣在增加。该公司表示，转向其他目的地“可能会损害”依赖旅游业的美国经济的关键部门。

The report comes on the heels of China's embassy in Washington late last month issuing a security advisory to its citizens about potential dangers traveling in the U.S., including to be alert to "suspicious individuals, and avoid going out alone at night.”

在该报道发表之前，中国驻华盛顿大使馆于上月晚些时候向其公民发布了一份关于在美国旅行的潜在危险的安全建议。包括对“可疑的人”保持警惕，避免在夜间独自外出。

"I would expect that the Chinese would play up the angle of the trade war costing the U.S. in terms of tourism because they want to amplify the impact," said Martin Chorzempa, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.

位于华盛顿特区的无党派智库彼得森国际经济研究所的研究员Martin Chorzempa说：“我预计，中国将会在旅游业的问题上夸大贸易战争的影响，因为他们想要扩大影响”。

"If people in the tourism industry see these things, the Chinese might hope that they put pressure on the U.S. administration to roll back some of these [tariff] measures because of the costs they would impose on the U.S.," he added.

他补充道：“如果旅游行业的从业者经历了这些事情，中国人可能会希望他们向美国政府施压，要求他们取消部分关税措施，因为这些关税将让美国付出一些代价”。

Chorzempa said he doesn't expect the travel advisory to have very much impact on Chinese tourism numbers. He believes the bigger impact will be Beijing's "pushing of a patriotic line 'not to go to the U.S."

Chorzempa指出，他不认为旅行建议会对中国的旅游数据产生很大的影响。他认为，发挥更大影响的将是北京方面推动爱国阵线不要前往美国。

Earlier this week, the paper ran a story headlined: "China should make tourism, services the main battlefield in trade frictions with U.S.

本周早些时候，该报刊登了一篇文章，题目是：“中国应该把旅游业作为与美国贸易摩擦的主战场。”

Potential for economic damage

潜在的经济损失

A downturn in Chinese tourism could certainly cause pain. Overall, nearly 3 million Chinese tourists visit the U.S. annually and spending has topped $30 billion in recent years, according to figures from the National Travel and Tourism Office, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration agency.

中国游客数量的减少肯定会引发痛苦。根据美国商务部国际贸易管理局下属的国家旅游和旅游办公室的数据，总体而言，每年有近300万中国游客前往美国旅游，近年来他们的支出已超过300亿美元。

ITA declined comment for this story. The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.

国际贸易管理局拒绝就此事发表评论。白宫方面也没有回复记者的置评请求。

Still, U.S. travel officials insist they are not seeing any slowdown in Chinese tourism just yet.

不过，美国旅游官员坚称，他们目前还没有看到中国游客出现任何减少的迹象。

"There are constant questions about whether a news moment has resulted in a dip in travel, but data trends simply do not happen in real time," said Jonathan Grella, an executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association. "So there is no econometric evidence yet that travel from China to the U.S. has flattened or decreased.”

美国旅游协会执行副主席乔纳森·格雷拉说：“关于一则新闻是否导致了旅游人数的下降，人们一直存有疑问，但数据趋势根本不会实时发生。因此，目前还没有经济计量的证据表明从中国到美国的旅行人数已经趋于平缓或减少”。

Laurie Armstrong Gossy, a spokesperson for San Francisco Travel, said China is the city's "number one market in visitor spending" and added that the latest statistics "don't reflect any impact [from the trade spat]. We may know more at the end of the summer."

旧金山旅游公司的发言人劳里·阿姆斯特朗说，中国是这个城市的“游客消费的头号市场”，并补充说，最新的统计数据“没有反映出贸易争端的任何影响。我们可能在夏末了解更多的情况”。

"It is to early to determine what kind of impact this may have, and we will continue to aggressively market Las Vegas as the greatest travel destination around the world," said Amanda Peters, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

拉斯维加斯会议和游客管理局的发言人阿曼达·彼得斯说：“要想知道它可能会带来什么样的影响还为时过早，我们将继续积极地推动拉斯维加斯成为世界上最大的旅游目的地”。

Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for Visit Florida, said there were nearly 300,000 Chinese travelers last year that visited the Sunshine State. "China is a very important market for Florida's tourism industry. We are confident that our world-class shopping, theme parks and sightseeing will continue to draw more and more Chinese visitors to Florida.”

佛罗里达旅游局的发言人斯蒂芬·劳森说，去年有近30万中国游客造访了这个“阳光之州”。“中国是佛罗里达旅游业的一个非常重要的市场。我们相信，我们的世界级购物、主题公园和观光将继续吸引越来越多的中国游客到佛罗里达旅游”。

Even so, escalating tensions could have an impact. Chorzempa said there are cases in China of at least one hotel putting what it calls a "tariff" on American visitors as part of the retaliation against the trade tussle. "We can expect that kind of nationalist sentiment to rise as the trade war ramps up," he said.

即便如此，不断升级的紧张局势可能还是会产生影响。Chorzempa说，在中国，至少有一家酒店对美国游客征收了所谓的“关税”，这是对贸易纠纷展开的报复的一部分。他说：“随着贸易战的升级，我们可以预期这种民族主义情绪会不断上升”。

There's a history of the Chinese using tourism as an economic weapon to punish other countries.

中国人有把旅游作为一种经济武器来惩罚其他国家的历史。

Last year, South Korea's tourism industry was on the receiving end of the wrath of Beijing's anger over installing the U.S.-built THAAD anti-missile defense system. Beijing launched a South Korean tourism boycott that led to a halt of packaged tours and reportedly cost the economy nearly $7 billion before it ended in late 2017.

去年，韩国的旅游业受到了北京方面对其部署美国萨德系统的愤怒之火的影响。中国政府发起了一场抵制前往韩国旅游的活动，从而导致了团队旅游活动的中断，据报道，在2017年底结束之前，韩国经济已经损失了近70亿美元。