The “revenge trip” of Chinese tourists will benefit from top brands located in the luxury capitals of the world.
Call it, perhaps, a wave of “destination spending” that will fill the coffers of companies that were already on top of their minds on the mainland.
Chinese authorities have greatly eased quarantines and travel restrictions and are reissuing passports. And as for return travel, the increase is already visible in data such as Trip.com, which announced at the end of last year that outbound bookings were up by three-digit percentage points. The company noted that on the morning of December 27, it saw “an incredible 254% increase in outbound bookings to mainland China compared to the day before.”
If we dig a little deeper into the data, outbound demand spans a number of corridors, stretching into Asia and beyond. Trip.com reports that Singapore is the fastest growing destination, with a six-fold jump in flight bookings, followed by an average jump of 400% in airline ticket orders. Bookings for long-haul flights to the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia also increased.
Not even close to pre-pandemic levels
We are far from pre-pandemic levels, where the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute estimated there were 170 million outbound trips from the mainland in 2019, and where widely cited United Nations World Tourism Organization figures pegged tourist spending for the year at $255 billion in 154 .6 million trips abroad. The figure dropped to as many as 25.6 million in 2021, according to Statista.
The triple-digit increases are signs of hope for brands that are getting a significant percentage of the top-end contribution from spending by Chinese tourists. Before the pandemic, Chinese consumers bought about one-third of the world’s luxury goods, according to Bain & Co. That number could rise to as much as 40% by the end of the decade, the consultant estimates, according to data reported by Jing Daily. For companies like Hermès, which has seen double-digit sales growth in Asia in recent quarters, and LVMH, where sales in Asia are improving at a single-digit rate, the natural extension would be to continue spending as Chinese tourists flock. abroad.
There is some evidence that dry powder spending is here as travel continues and for Chinese consumers to open their wallets online and on-site in London, Hong Kong and the US Household savings rose 13% in the first nine months of last year , amid the lingering impact of COVID restrictions. Around the world – and most notably in the UK, US and luxury capitals of Asia – leading retailers will await the “revenge” of tourism and consumption with open arms.
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