Chinese New Year brings benefits to the rest of the world

The Chinese New Year has traditionally been a time for the family reunion. However, this tradition is now slowly on the transition. With the Chinese economy continually growing and the income of Chinese citizens rising, many of them are utilizing this holiday season for a trip overseas.

For many of the Western countries, the shopping season would be the Thanksgiving Holiday Season and Christmas. With the incoming Chinese tourists, the Chinese New Year has also become a lucrative opportunity for the retailers which are well prepared for these new customers from China.

Some shopping malls in the USA are now dressing their mannequins with red dresses, and many brands are releasing special editions with Chinese elements. For example, D&G has introduced T-shirts with monkey icons, as 2016 will be the year of monkey according to the Chinese zodiac.

Previously, shopping malls on the West Coast would celebrate the Chinese New Year, as many cities in this area have Asian expatriate communities. This trend has extended to more shopping malls due the increasing number of tourists from the Middle Kingdom. For them, the significance of attracting more wealthy Chinese tourists has urged them to grasp more chances to appeal to these customers.

Some economists predicted that Chinese consumers will one day have more spending powers than Americans as the middle class in China is growing.

According to Ctrip, a major online travel agency in China, the number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad since the start of the Chinese New Year holiday season on February 7 will reach 6 million. This is a 15% increase against the same period last year. The China National Tourism Administration reports that Chinese tourists conducted more than 120 million trip overseas in 2015, which benefited a series of foreign destinations.

Not only did Chinese tourists boost the sales of shopping malls in the U.S., Japan also greatly benefited from the growing spending power of Chinese tourists. The Japan Tourism Agency stated in its report that Chinese tourists contributed 40% of all the foreign traveler consumptions in 2015, with an average of USD 2,393.

Source: Xinhua News

Photo: flickr