While Chester County already seems to be on the radar of Chinese tourists, Susan Hamley, President of the Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau, believes much more could be done to increase the number of overseas visitors, writes Michael Rellahan for the Daily Local News.

At a recent meeting of the county commissioners, Hamley asked for a hotel tax increase from three to five percent to better locally and internationally market the county’s popular destinations, like Longwood Gardens and the American Helicopter Museum.

The current hotel tax brings in approximately $1.7 million for use by the Visitors Bureau. The proposed increase would bump that up by an additional $1.3 million.

Among other things, money collected from the tax is used for television commercials advocating the Brandywine Valley as a place to visit.

“We have a lot of things sitting on the shelf,” said Hamley. “But it takes dollars to do that. We need to be China-ready.”

Visitors from China are the second-largest group of overseas tourists.

Read more about the proposed tax hike at Daily Local News here.