Soaring to $7.7 billion over the past year, Chinese tourists are Australia's biggest spenders.
A drop in the value of the Australian dollar helped make the country more affordable to overseas visitors where spending by Chinese tourists rose up to 43 percent in the 12 months compared to the previous year. The rise is at more than three times the rate of increase in overall visitor spending.
Chinese visitor expenditure has now exceeded the tourist industry's annual target of $7.4 billion - set in 2010 - five years ahead of schedule.
The Chinese visitor expenditure is also more than the combined $7.5 billion spent by Britons, Americans, and Canadians.
Tourism Research Australia managing director John O'Sullivan said that during that the September quarter was the third straight quarter to boast double digit spending growth.
The priority now is to get visitors out of the capital cities and spending their dollars across the whole country, he said.
The 43 per cent increase in Chinese spending came as visitor numbers leaped by a quarter.
"The tyranny of time, distance and cost mean that Australia will never be a high volume destination," O'Sullivan said.
"Our Tourism 2020 strategy is unashamedly focused upon yield: encouraging international visitors to stay longer, disperse further and ultimately do more and spend more while in our country."
According to Global Blue, an expert in internation shopping and spending, China and Russia are by far the most lucrative countries of origin for globe shoppers, with Chinese globe shoppers now accounting for almost one third of all Tax Free Shopping spend - China with 30 percent, Russia with 14, the United States comes in far third with 4percent, Indonesia with 3 percent, and Japan with 2 percent.
"Clearly we are entering a new normal in terms of Tax Free Shopping growth, however it is important to remember that for the seventh consecutive year Chinese globe shoppers are still the biggest spending nationality, spending on average 736 Euros per transaction," said David Baxby, Chief Executive Officer of Global Blue.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
