????從拉斯維加斯到洛杉磯的中途，丹吉爾購物中心（Tanger）出現在遠處，高聳的標志像是召喚人們的一片綠洲。在我們所乘的旅游大巴上，激動的人們已經顯露出笑容。我和52名中國游客共坐一車，他們大多是來自上海的退休老人，只有極少數人會說英語。但是，當我們的車停進商場的停車場時，他們俯身傾向車窗，喊出了一些熟悉的詞：“Polo！Tommy！銳步！”

????我們原本應該在附近的一家熊貓快餐店（Panda Express）停下來吃頓午飯，但大家一致否決了坐下來吃飯的計劃，主要是因為擔心它會縮短購物時間。戶外商場里擠滿了中國游客；Sino Coach、Lion Express和Eagle Tours等旅行社的旅游巴士都停在外面。我們的大客車在一個下客點停下時，大家都趕緊起身。我努力地跟上了一對老夫婦，他們是鐘道（音譯）和狄平（音譯）。我跟著他們跑向拉爾夫·勞倫（Polo Ralph Lauren）的一家門店。

????我們一進店里，鐘道就開始翻看一架子的Polo衫。鐘道是一名退休教師，她留著麗莎?明妮莉那樣的發型。她摘出一件薰衣草色的襯衫，拿出一小張寫著她兒媳衣服尺碼的紙比對。她通過一位導游翻譯告訴我：“我們很期待來這里。”她又問導游這里是不是可以討價還價？對方無奈地搖了搖頭。

????這對今年都已經66歲的夫妻共買了12件Polo衫，這在中國游客中還算是少的。室外，數十名游客在長凳上休息，周圍堆滿了購物袋。鐘道告訴我，這是她和丈夫第一次來美國。以前他們只是在電影里看到過美國。她說：“我們希望親眼看看它。”

????而在幾年前，中國旅游團是被禁止到美國游玩的。到2007年，兩國簽署了一份備忘錄，取消了這個限制，并因此引發了中國人的赴美旅游大潮。2011年，超過100萬中國游客來到美國，遠高于2008年的49.3萬人。美國商務部（Commerce Department）預計2011年至2017年之間赴美中國游客數量將增長259%。隨著更多中國人成為中產階層，他們越來越接受休閑旅游的概念。現在，來自中國的旅行團在世界各大城市無處不在，已取代日本游客成為全球受歡迎的購物豪客。

????發達經濟體正從中獲益。中國游客赴美游玩每趟花費約6,000美元，超過任何其他國家的游客。由于中國游客在美國的支出在技術上屬于美國的出口，2011年美國對中國出現了高達44億美元的旅游業順差，而2006年為6.87億美元的逆差。

????游客消費的激增為美國經濟的一個結構性問題帶來了體面的解決方案——既可以讓美國受益于新興市場的增長，同時又能發揮自身優勢，包括它的流行文化、安全性，以及龐大的服務從業人員群體。超過540萬的美國人是旅游業從業人員，他們的工作是無法輕易外包的。旅游業是成熟經濟體仍然跑贏新興經濟體的少數領域之一，主要是因為來自第三世界國家的人希望去第一世界游玩。

????Halfway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the Tanger outlet mall appeared in the distance, its towering sign beckoning like an oasis. The people on our bus started to titter with excitement. I was sitting with 52 Chinese tourists, mostly elderly retirees from Shanghai, and very few of them spoke English. But as we pulled into the mall's parking lot, they leaned up against the windows and called out familiar words: "Polo! Tommy! Reebok!"

????We were supposed to stop for lunch at a nearby Panda Express, but the group unanimously vetoed a sit-down meal, fearing it would cut into shopping time. The outdoor mall was packed with Chinese tourists; buses from Sino Coach, Lion Express, and Eagle Tours were parked outside. As our motor coach lurched to a stop, everyone sprang up. I struggled to keep up with an older couple, Zhong Dao and Di Ping, as they bolted toward Polo Ralph Lauren (RL).

????As soon as we arrived, Zhong Dao, a retired teacher with a haircut like Liza Minnelli's, began riffling through a rack of polo shirts. She plucked a lavender one and pulled out a scrap of paper with her daughter-in-law's measurements. "We had great expectations for this," she told a staffer from our tour company, who translated her remarks for me. She asked him if it was possible to bargain down the price. He shook his head ruefully.

????The couple, both 66, bought 12 polo shirts -- a relatively modest haul. Outside, dozens of tourists rested on benches surrounded by mountains of shopping bags. Zhong Dao told me that this was her and her husband's first visit to the U.S. Before, they had only witnessed America in the movies. "We wanted to come see it with our own eyes," she said.

????Until a few years ago Chinese tour groups were forbidden from traveling to the U.S. Then, in 2007, the two countries signed a memorandum that reversed this restriction -- and unleashed a tidal wave of tourism. More than 1 million Chinese visitors came to the U.S. in 2011, up from 493,000 in 2008. The Commerce Department expects arrivals to rise 259% between 2011 and 2017. As more Chinese people join the middle class, they are embracing the concept of leisure travel. Tour groups from China are now ubiquitous in major cities, supplanting Japanese travelers as the world's most sought-after big spenders.

????Advanced economies are reaping the benefits. Chinese tourists in America spend about $6,000 per trip, more than visitors from any other country. Because their expenditures are technically exports, the U.S. ran a whopping $4.4 billion surplus in travel and tourism with China in 2011, up from a $687 million deficit in 2006.

????The surge in tourist spending offers an elegant solution to one of the economy's structural problems -- a way for the U.S. to tap into the growth in emerging markets while exploiting its own strengths, including its popular culture, its safety, and its large service workforce. More than 5.4 million Americans work in travel and tourism, and their jobs cannot be easily outsourced. Tourism is one of the few areas in which mature economies are still outperforming emerging ones, mainly because people from Third World countries want to visit First World ones.