Somerset bids to lure Chinese tourists (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

Somerset bids to lure Chinese tourists

1:20pm Saturday 5th March 2011 in News

TOURISM bosses are hoping to attract Chinese holidaymakers to Somerset, creating thousands of new jobs and injecting hundreds of thousands of pounds into the economy.

Stephanie Cheng, managing director of China Holidays, has visited the county to check out what it has to offer her compatriots.

If she likes what she saw, Somerset could be promoted as a tourist destination to he clients from September.

With the Chinese economy booming, each tourist from over there would spend an estimated £1,000.

Eager to draw the Chinese over here, Somerset County Council and Somerset Tourism Association have worked closely with the Chinese authorities to put the cider county on their radar.

Cllr David Hall, council cabinet member for strategic planning and economic development, and John Turner, of the Somerset Tourism Association, met Ms Cheng during her visit.

Mr Hall said: “It’s a privilege to share with China Holidays some of the many jewels Somerset has to offer.

“The Chinese are now recognised as being bigger spenders than the Arabs, Russians or Americans and their visit will give a tremendous boost to Somerset’s economy and local employment.”

Mr Turner said: “It’is great news that China Holidays might be promoting Somerset to their clientele as an ideal tourism destination.

“Currently Somerset has 0.5% of the market share of Chinese tourists.

“If we could only increase this to just 2.5%, this could add hundreds of thousands of pounds of spending to our economy and could mean as many as 10,000 new jobs.”