Chinese luxury travellers

As far as recent tourism is concerned, 2020 can be deemed to be the worst year ever: according to the UNWTO - United Nations World Tourism Organization, the number of international travellers diminished to an extent of 1 billion, and a financial loss in the amount of 1,3 trillion dollars was estimated. The lack of travellers from China surely played a central role. Indeed, for several years and up to now, Chinese have been considered the world’s greatest travellers, especially in reference to the category of “luxury travellers”. Thanks to vaccination plans currently into force, a new mood of cautious optimism is arising, particularly concerning the willingness to come back travelling. China’s nearest countries, such as Japan and Korea, will be the first beneficiaries of these plans, and probably, luxury shopping will remain a priority for Chinese travellers. According to Hainan International Media Center, throughout January 2020, Hainan - one of China’s most visited destinations during the pandemic – registered an annual increase of duty-free offshore sales of 144%, overcoming an amount of half a billion dollars. This can be read as the signal that travelling and shopping will continue to form a long-lasting binomial for the majority of Chinese travellers.