Chinese go on luxury spending spree overseas

Edited and translated by Yao Chun, People's Daily Online

During the Spring Festival holiday season, Chinese consumers have spent more than 7.2 billion U.S. dollars abroad in purchasing luxury goods, which hits a new record, according to the data released by the World Luxury Association (WLA).

The overseas luxury consumption has increased by 28.57 percent year on year from 2011’s 5.6 billion U.S. dollars, much higher than the projected 5.7 billion U.S. dollars in the end of 2011.

Chinese consumers have become the group with strongest purchasing power in luxury markets all over the world. Chinese spending accounts for about one third in European and North American luxury markets and contributes 69 percent in the luxury goods sales in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

In the meantime, luxury consumption in China, which took place mainly in Beijing and Shanghai, two biggest cities of China, only reached 1.75 billion U.S. dollars, far fewer than overseas luxury spending.

An investigation into outbound consumers during Spring Festival holidays finds that 72 percent of Chinese think that overseas luxury goods are cheaper than domestic ones; 69 percent think that they have more choice to buy luxury goods abroad; 45 percent want to enjoy the authentic goods and services from their country of origin.