There are plenty of skilled teachers in the West. The idea that to learn real gung fu, one needs to go to Asia is a fantasy. If anything, it can be detrimental, as there are still teachers who see foreigners as ignorant walking piggy banks, and will seek to bleed you dry while filling your head with BS. In Taiwan, I've seen teachers who have skill, but clearly are not sharing it with their students, teachers who have skill and share it, but don't have a clue about fighting, and teachers who just talk nonsense. Just because they have been introduced to the wider public by someone considered 'in the know' doesn't mean much. One teacher, well praised, and the subject of books, seminars etc. wanted a ridiculous amount of money for private lessons. I opted for a group class, and after a few hours of qigong and generic stretching etc. got to see him teach applications; I never went back.
If your goal is to make a living teaching, it is certainly a good marketing tool to say my teacher is blah blah, rather than my teacher is from Essex, Ohio, or some other less exotic location.
To each his own.
Quick afterthought. Yes, plenty of western teachers fit the above description, so buyer beware.