Hey big spenders! Chinese travelers spend over $1,000 a day
Chinese tourists have become some of the biggest spenders abroad, according to a new report, averaging over $1,000 a day.
According to Hotels.com's Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) report published Wednesday, the average Chinese overseas traveler spends a whopping 6,707 renminbi ($1,086) per day while on vacation, excluding accommodation costs.
However, in the data breakdown, the report, which surveyed 3,000 Chinese tourist and 3,000 hoteliers worldwide, showed that an extremely wealthy segment of traveler was responsible for pushing up the average.
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Around 15 percent of respondents said they spent 10,000 renminbi ($1,619) a day, while 2 percent spent 50,000 renminbi ($8,095) a day.
But the bulk surveyed were at the lower end of the scale, with 28 percent spending between 2,001 and 5,000 renminbi ($324-810) and 36 percent spending between 500 and 2,000 renminbi ($81-324).
Chinese travelers have been the biggest spending group among the countries surveyed by Hotels.com surveys since 2012. Total spending by this group has increased to $129 billion in 2013 from $27 billion in 2012, according to data from the United Nations.
The CITM report didn't delve into the specifics as to what the travelers were spending their cash on, but according to analysts at research house CLSA, hitting the malls and casinos were largely to blame.
"We've done a survey of 41 cities in China and people say they want to go sightseeing or experience different cultures, but ultimately all they want to do is shop and gamble," said Aaron Fischer, CLSA's head of consumer and gaming research.
According to investment bank HSBC, the Chinese account for around 35 percent of the global luxury market, while sales in their home market only contribute 9-10 percent.
"The Chinese have a higher propensity to spend versus others as prices of luxury goods tend to be 40 percent lower outside China; there is a wider selection of brands and products available overseas; and there a cache in purchasing these items from the brands home country, typically being France, Italy or Switzerland," said CLSA's Fischer.
Gambling abroad is also an extremely popular vacation pastime for the Chinese. In the last five years, the number of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong tourists traveling to gambling hotspot Las Vegas has increased 80 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Burgeoning sector
Chinese international travelers are taking more trips abroad now than ever before, the Hotels.com report noted.
The number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad in the first three months of 2014 was 26.4 million, an increase of 17 percent compared with the same period in 2013, data from the Tourism Administration of China showed.
CLSA forecast earlier this year that this number would grow to 200 million by 2020 from 97 million in 2013.
Hotels surveyed also back the trend, with over half (53 percent) saying they have experienced an increase in Chinese guests over the past year, up from 45 percent in 2013.
The Asia-Pacific region saw the strongest surge with 74 percent saying they've received more Chinese guests, North America on 54 percent, Europe on 43 percent and Latin America on 30 percent.