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German tourists are top of the big spenders

Thursday 18 February 2010 16:17 GMT
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German tourists flash the cash whilst on holiday more than any other nationality according to a new report.

Last year Germans splurged more than $90 billion on their travels despite the recession, propping up other economies by eating out, buying clothes and visiting expensive tourist attractions.

American tourists are notorious for spending their hard-earned dollars abroad, so it's hardly surprising that with $79.7 billion pumped into foreign countries last year they are the second-biggest tourism spenders.

Behind the UK and France ranks China, a country which has seen a travel boom to match its economic dominance, with Chinese tourists spending $36.2 billion in 2009, a staggering increase of 21 per cent year-on-year.

“It will be very interesting to see how tourist spending changes since the downturn. So far, the latest figures show that only the Japanese spent less on international tourism than the previous year. China is fast rising [...] meanwhile, the Germans remain the world’s biggest spending tourists, and there would have to be significant change for anyone else to catch up with them," remarked Barry Smith, co-founder and business director of Skyscanner, the flight comparison site which commission the report.

Click here to see the ten countries which spend the most abroad

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