Facebook Twitter 新浪微博 腾讯微博 Wednesday 3 June 2015
Search
Archive
English
English>>Travel

5m traveled abroad in Spring Festival

By Li Xiang/Zhang Chunyan (China Daily)    09:13, February 25, 2015
Email|Print

Spring Festival appears to be no longer a time solely for family reunions in China.

More wealthy Chinese are traveling abroad, with shopping one of their most important missions during the weeklong holiday.

From Japanese electronic toilet seats to Swiss luxury watches, Chinese tourists have been globe-trotting in pursuit of purchases in department stores and luxury shops.

The number of Chinese traveling abroad is expected to have exceeded 5 million during the holiday, driven by a stronger yuan, favorable visa policies, increased wealth and demand for quality leisure time.

Spring Festival this year also marked the first time that outbound tourists had outnumbered those traveling at home, with 60 percent of Chinese tourists spending the holiday in foreign destinations, according to the China Tourism Academy.

Overseas retailers, department stores, electronics shops and luxury boutiques have been cashing in.

In Japan, stores selling electronic goods have been packed with Chinese shoppers. Small but high-end products such as rice cookers, toilet seats and digital cameras have sold out, according to a Japanese media report.

Some Japanese media estimated that about 450,000 Chinese tourists will have traveled to Japan during the holiday, spending $941 million.

The China National Tourism Administration has predicted that the number of Chinese heading abroad during the holiday break will reach 5.19 million, a 10 percent year-on-year increase.

The academy said revenue for the Chinese tourism industry during the holiday will be more than 140 billion yuan ($22 billion).

In Paris, 80 percent of Chinese tourists' spending was devoted to shopping, according to a report by HSBC.


【1】【2】

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Editor:Yuan Can,Yao Chun)

Add your comment

Related reading

Full coverage

We Recommend

Most Viewed

Day|Week

Key Words