Bad news for Japanâ€™s retailers as Chinese tourists cut back on buying

Jul 11, 2017 | News On Japan

Jul 11, 2017 (Japan Times) - Theyâ€™re still coming in droves â€” but no longer buying in spades.

After propping up sales for overseas retailers over the past decade with a shopping-driven tourism agenda, Chinese visitors are no longer returning home with suitcases bulging like before.

A new survey by consultancy Oliver Wyman shows Chinese tourist numbers and holiday expenditure continuing to rise last year, even as shopping during overseas travel dropped 17 percent from a year earlier.

The average Chinese tourist spent about 6,705 yuan ($986) on shopping when traveling, down from 8,050 yuan in 2015. But overall holiday spending â€” including on hotels and sightseeing â€” rose 3.5 percent to 20,317 yuan from 19,635 yuan, according to the survey of 2,000 travelers from the mainland.

The sea change in spending habits is dealing a blow to retailers from Parisian department stores to Japanese duty-free operators and Hong Kong jewelers, but bigger numbers of wealthier Chinese may create other opportunities for leisure and entertainment operators in popular overseas destinations.

â€œBusinesses globally have to adjust their strategy to think about how to capture the new Chinese tourist dollar,â€ said Oliver Wymanâ€™s Shanghai-based partner, Hunter Williams. â€œItâ€™s less about the outlet mall now and more about the national park.â€

One reason for the change is the easier access to foreign goods in mainland China due to a booming $60 billion cross-border e-commerce market.

Imported items can now be ordered online and delivered in as quickly as a day, often exempt from taxes levied on goods from store shelves.

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