Xi’s graft purge hits US tourism industry but Chinese jet-set pick up the slack

Almost every year for more than a decade, tour group operator Carson Zhang guided a delegation of about two dozen Chinese government officials from Guangdong province's Forestry Administration for a two-week trip through the national parks of California, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Along with presentations about forest fires and trail preservation, the officials enjoyed lobster and steak dinners, went to see Tennessee bluegrass musicians perform, and made a stop at one of Orange County, California's shopping malls.

Zhang's company, American Carson International, catered almost exclusively to government tour groups from Guangdong. But in the past couple of years, official tourism from there has been scaled back, and the forestry group has not visited the US since 2012, Zhang said.

President Xi Jinping's crackdown on government corruption, which began almost two years ago, has had a profound impact on this niche of the US tourism industry.

In some parts of China there are new restrictions on the kinds of overseas travel by central and local government officials that will be allowed, according to officials in several Chinese cities and US companies who handle travel arrangements for government trips. Often it isn't a new rule that is proving to be a barrier but widespread fear that an overseas trip will attract the wrong kind of attention from the government teams investigating corruption.

Xinhua reported in January that the number of officials who travelled overseas for training approved by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs fell by 32 per cent in 2013.