CRI听力:New Orleans catering specifically to Chinese tourists

Chinese tourists spend billions of dollars overseas each year, and while there are always the "must see cities," secondary markets are now emerging.

Cities such as New Orleans in the southern US are now pulling out all the stops to attract them to The Big Easy.

New Orleans is always a "go-to" spot for U.S. tourists, but the city is now looking abroad at a wealth of visitors who want to spend more time and money.

Kim Priez, senior vice president of tourism, New Orleans Convention and Tourism Bureau.

"China has been on our radar for about six years. Probably we were behind the curve. We don't want to put a lot of money into China yet. You know, six years ago, we were kind of dabbling in it, we were exploring it."

The bureau is now spending 30 percent of its annual budget to lure the growing Chinese middle class.

Stevie Garcia, head of New Orleans Custom Tours, is a key link in making Chinese guests feel at home in New Orleans.

New Orleans just signed a contract with a Chinese tourist company, and Garcia spends a lot of time with tour groups coming from Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere.

"One of the new big things is feeling special. You can do whatever you want here -- architecture, obviously the birthplace of Jazz, lot of jazz is really popular. You have the food, I mean we have some of the greatest food in the world. We always compete with New York City for food and they've got, you know, 15 times more people than we do."

It's not just the night life, shopping, food and of course Bourbon Street. There is a lot to see once tourists get out of the city. They can go on a swamp tours and see alligators, turtles and bald eagles.

One thing Chinese tourists love, according to Garcia, is a New Orleans staple -- Mardi Gras themed parties.

City leaders including Kim Priez say they are building a foundation to attract Chinese tourists who come to the U.S. to visit New York, Washington D.C., or San Francisco.

"We are secondary, we understand that, but when you are in the United States and you are close enough to New Orleans -- pop over, because it will be the best two days of your life."

Over the past decade, Chinese visitors to the United States have grown nearly 10-fold from 320,000 arrivals in 2006 to over 3 million in 2016, which was designated as the "China-U.S. Tourism Year."

California currently attracts 45.5 percent of all Chinese visitors -the highest percentage of any U.S. state.

During his meeting with US president Donald Trump on Friday, tourism is one of the sectors mentioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping to promote People-to-people exchanges.