The slowdown in travel to the United States has been a boon for the eastern Guangdong port city of Shantou.
Vice-director of Guangdong Province Tourism Bureau Su Jianhe said the city was benefiting from an increase in the number of tourists from Southeast Asia visiting the mainland in preference to the US, Britain and Europe.
'Overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia have always made up a major part of our tourists, but since the terrorist attacks in the US many more have been drawn to Shantou,' he said.
'They have lost faith in America's safety and they have been deterred by the more stringent visa application procedures in the US.'
Mr Su said the city was working on a new promotional campaign that would focus heavily on cultural sites and golf courses in Shantou, targeting potential visitors from Hong Kong.
Vice-director of the Shantou Tourism Bureau Wang Xiaohui said more than 2.1 million tourists visited Shantou last year, generating 35.04 billion yuan (about HK$32.83 billion) in income, or 7.3 per cent of the city's gross domestic product.
