A Louis Vuitton shop in Paris, which Global Blue states is the most popular destination for Chinese shoppers. (Flickr/Antonio Caselli)
Chinese travelers have held onto their title as the world’s biggest overseas spenders, according to a recent report by Swiss tourism shopping tax refund company Global Blue based on its tax-free transactions captured. The report states that Chinese customers accounted for 27 percent of all tax-free shopping transactions handled by Global Blue in 2013, taking up a larger share than Russia, Indonesia, the United States, and Japan. The report predicts that they’ll take up an even bigger share of the market in 2014 if their growing spending habits persist.
Global Blue also recently reported that China’s global sales showed stronger growth than any other country in the first quarter of 2014. Overseas Chinese spending grew 25 percent from the previous year to $1,147, higher than the global average of $681.
According to The Star Online, Manelik Sfez, vice president of corporate marketing at Global Blue, says that France is the favorite shopping destination for Chinese tourists, followed by Singapore, Germany, Britain and Italy. The report shows that overseas spending budgets for Chinese tourists reached $14,615 per person, according to the article, and that 82 percent of Chinese travelers indicated shopping to be their number one priority when going overseas.