The Chinese economy may be slowing but that's not stopping
a record number of tourists from leaving the country for Lunar New
Year holidays next week, when they are also expected to be ringing
up sales across major cities.
This year, six million Chinese will be on the move out
of China over the week-long
holidays that start officially on Sunday, according to
Ctrip(CTRP),
a major online travel site in the world's second-largest
economy.That represents a 15 percent increase over the 5.2 million
travelers over the Lunar New Year season last year.
"China travelers into (gateway cities like) Hong
Kong and Singapore continue to be quite healthy despite
all the news you hear about the China economy being weaker than
folks want it to be," said Expedia(EXPE)'s
chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi on CNBC's Squawk
Box.
Indeed, the travel booking website found in a recent study that
people in only four more countries tend to fly more than in
China.
According to the China National Tourism Administration, Chinese
tourists undertook more than 120 million trips overseas in 2015,
many of whom helped support growth in the countries they
visited.
In
2014, Chinese tourists splashed $165 billion overseas, a 28 percent
rise from a year ago, the World Tourism Organization found in a
report released recently.
The Chinese' favorite countries for shopping are Japan and South Korea, which are particularly
popular now due to safety concerns after last November's terrorist
attacks in Paris and due to a rising U.S. dollar, said Brian
Buchwald, chief executive of consumer intelligence company,
Bomoda.
But despite the increase in Chinese heading overseas, not all
pockets of the retail industry are benefiting proportionately as
the government starts to crackdown on corruption. Sale of men's
luxury watches have fallen as fewer officials head out on junkets
although women's fashion items have fared better.
In
fact, sales of fine jewelry may stand to gain from the ongoing
turmoil in the Chinese currency as consumers "exchange their
depreciating local currency into diamonds and gold that should
retain value over time," added Buchwald.
Top 10 travel destinations for the
Chinese this Lunar New Year season:
1.
Thailand
2.
Japan
3.
South Korea
4.
Taiwan
5.
Singapore
6.
Hong Kong
7.
U.S.
8.
Indonesia
9.
Malaysia
10. Australia
Source: Ctrip
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