When it comes to shopping, there's just no stopping Chinese tourists

(AFP PHOTO PIERRE VERDY)

With more than 65 million Chinese tourists expected to head on out into the world this year, it's little wonder international tourism hotspots are keen to tap into this growing market.

And what's making them even more excited are the reports being posted about just how much the modern-day Chinese tourist likes to spend while they travel.

Hong Kong has long been the most popular "overseas'' destination for Chinese tourists and a report released by the Nielsen Company ( http://www.nielsen.com) says they spend more than any other group of tourists when they come to town too - around HK$12,000 (1,100 euros) per head, per visit.

That number becomes even more significant when you consider 22.7 million Chinese visitors tripped through Hong Kong in 2010 - a rise of 26.3 percent, year on year.

But as a fast-improving domestic economy has also resulted in more and more Chinese looking further afield for their holidays, it seems they are taking their cash with them when they head off to foreign climes too.

That's good news for Europe in particular as Chinese tourists have apparently now not only over-taken Russians as the visitors who spend the most in that region on their travels, they now spend double the amount of the former leaders in spending in the region .

"On average, Chinese tourists spent 107 percent more year-on-year on tax-refunded shopping abroad in 2010, reaching a 130 per cent spike in September compared with the same month in 2009," Manelik Sfez, vice-president of global marketing at Switzerland-based Global Blue, a tax-refund and shopping services provider, explained this week to Asia One News.

According to Global Blue ( http://www.global-blue.com), Chinese travellers last year on average spent 744 euros on tax-free shopping transactions, which doubled the Russian's 368 euros.

American tourists meanwhile spent 554 euros on each trip to Europe and Japanese tourists forked out 521 euros.

According to Global Blue, Chinese tourists spend the most on fashion, jewelry and watches - their preference is to hit the big department stores, where they have more options.

MS