Chinese tourists want souveniers

Outbound tourism from China is exploding. The booming economy in China, mixed with an exponential rise in the number of millionaires and a rapidly expanding middle class, has ignited a desire among the Chinese population to explore. That, coupled with increased exposure to foreign culture through books, movies and even news media, has helped spur interest in seeing what the world outside China has to offer.

Chinese tourists — like tourists from other countries — aren’t interested only in photos of famous sites. They also want souvenirs, including merchandise that may not be available to them back home. According to China Daily, Chinese travelers accounted for 62 percent of all luxury goods purchased in Europe in 2011, and several European destinations, particularly in France and Italy, have become extremely popular because of the brands associated with luxury-goods companies such as the privately held Chanel S.A., Gucci Group N.V. ( and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (EPA:MC).

In the U.S., New York’s famed shopping row Fifth Avenue, lined with many European luxury-brand outlets, has also been able to capitalize on China’s shopping habit. During the Chinese New Year holiday, a popular travel period in China, the high-end department store Bergdorf Goodman — a unit of privately held Neiman Marcus Inc. — employed additional personnel on the sales floor equipped with Mandarin-language skills and specially decorated exhibits as a way of welcoming Chinese tourists. According to the World Luxury Association, 75 percent of Chinese tourists purchase more than three luxury items when traveling abroad, including jewelry, watches and other fashion items such as leather goods.

Although Chinese tourists generally travel in packs, with sun umbrellas and shopping bags, their travel patterns, tastes and standards are expected to evolve from mass-planned tours to niche travel.

“As Chinese travelers become more experienced, the demand for interest-specific and in-depth experiences rather than the basic sightseeing and shopping will increase,” a report by Chinavia, a Scandinavian pilot project centered on Chinese tourists, concluded. According to the study, the first-time traveler is less likely to look for specialized tours, compared with second- and third-time travelers, who tend to look into experiential vacations, such as skiing in Canada or golfing in New Zealand.