Together with the US travel industry, States and cities increase their efforts to win back Chinese tourists and their spending power lost because of the trade issues between Beijing and Washington.

Issuances of warnings from Beijing that Chinese travelers might suffer harassment in the US coupled with the increased difficulty Chinese tourists encounter in getting US visas didn't do American tourism any good.

Theresa Belpulsi, a senior official at Destination DC, the capital's tourism marketing office, confirmed that there is a "little bit of a dip in Chinese visitors."

Larry Yu, a professor of hospitality management at George Washington University in the US capital, pointed out that impressions of an unwelcome environment are hard to overcome.

Yu said that trade issues create an environment that makes people substitute the US for another place.

Tourism is one of the few industries where the US has had an advantage over China.

Last year, three million Chinese went to visit the US.

In 2018, Chinese tourists traveling to the US spent $30 billion more than American tourists visiting China.

To counter the effects of the tariff dispute, hotel discounts coinciding with Lunar New Year got offered in Washington.

During another Chinese holiday, the state of Arizona promoted its outdoor attractions.

Likewise, by targeting year-round travel of Chinese millennials, San Francisco had made sure it has a presence on Chinese apps.

The growing Chinese middle class is a lucrative market for US tourism.

According to the US Travel Association, each Chinese tourist was estimated to have spent an average of $6,700, 50 percent more than other tourists.

When the trade issues started in 2018, the number of Chinese visitors dropped by 6 percent.

For the first half of 2019, visitors from China dropped nearly 4 percent.

US travel and hospitality groups blamed the trade issues for having US share of the global tourism market slipping.

Because of this, the US tourism sector asked the US government to increase funding for the country's national tourism marketing agency coupled with increased efforts in working with overseas trade fairs and even tour groups.

Though the tourism marketing agencies' strategies of Los Angeles and Utah had started to include other countries like India, where its large and youthful middle class is also a good source of tourist dollars, there is just no way to replace the effect of Chinese tourists on US tourism.

Some tourism companies are experiencing the worst.

DFS Hawaii, an operator of duty-free stores in Hawaiian airports, is laying off a quarter of its workforce because of a decrease in tourists from China.

As of August 2019, Chinese tourist visits to Hawaii is down 27 percent.