Australia | Chinese dominate as high-spending Asian leisure visitors

The Asian high-spender (HS) market has changed dramatically in recent years and is now being dominated by Chinese consumers, according to a new report released by Tourism Research Australia.
The study, quoted by Travel and World Tour, highlights that China’s share of the total Asian high-spender leisure expenditure in Australia increased threefold between 2005 and 2013 and that Chinese high-spending leisure visitors have distinctive expenditure patterns.
Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said the report provides valuable insights into high-
spending Asian leisure visitors.
“This latest research will help inform marketing initiatives to meet this important visitor segment’s needs and to grow demand from Asia, a strategic priority for Australia’s Tourism 2020 strategy,” he said.
The ‘High-spending Asian leisure visitors’ report uses data from the International Visitor Survey between 2005 and 2013 to compare ten Asian markets (China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand) with five non-Asian markets (New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America, France and Germany) to reveal unique attributes of Asian high-spenders.
Chinese tourists spend more when shopping for souvenirs than any other country surveyed, the report states.
Another distinctive characteristic of Chinese high-spenders is that nearly half (46%) of them arrived in Australia as part of a travel package and participated in a group tour. The only other country where more than five percent of high spenders travelled to Australia in this way was South Korea (19%). Japan saw 22 percent of high spenders travel on a package, but not as part of a group tour.
Visitors from China generated a total expenditure of $5.7 billion in 2014. The Tourism 2020 Strategy estimates that China has the potential to be worth up to $13 billion in total expenditure by 2020.
The report has emerged following Tourism Australia’s latest March 2015 Quarterly Market Update, which revealed China as the number one market for both leisure visitor expenditure (holiday and VFR- visiting friends and relatives) and holiday visitor expenditure.
The latest International Visitor Survey results for the year ending March 2015 show Eastern markets account for 42 per cent of total leisure visitor expenditure.