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Chinese tourists will want to shop: expert

After the nation opens up to tourists from China, tourism promoters should focus on catering to Chinese tourists' shopping habits in trying to attract more visitors from that country, a researcher from the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) suggested yesterday.

Sun Ming-teh (孫明德) made the remarks in a report on the consumption patterns of Chinese tourists, following up on a promise made by Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) late last month to start negotiations with Beijing on opening up to tourists from across the Strait.

Citing a survey conducted by the marketing information company AC Nielsen and the Tax Free World Association of 1,500 Chinese tourists from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou who visited Asian or European countries in the last six months, Sun said the consumption patterns of Chinese tourists are quite different from those of tourists from other countries.

According to the survey, Chinese tourists rank second in the world in terms of the amount of spending during a single foreign visit, trailing only Japanese tourists. However, in spending on shopping, Chinese tourists top the list at an average of US$987 per person.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Taiwan's Tourism Bureau last year showed that 47.5 percent of spending by foreign tourists in Taiwan is on hotel accommodations, followed by shopping at 21.3 percent. However, among Chinese tourists, including those from Hong Kong and Macau, spending on hotel accommodations stood at only 40.6 percent, while shopping accounted for a whopping 27.2 percent of total spending per visit.

Analyzing the results, Sun said that European and US tourists generally focus on "leisure and culture" on their vacations, demanding hotels with good facilities such as swimming pools and showing more interest in cultural performances and unique local handicrafts and artwork.

Chinese tourists, on the other hand, are not as concerned about the quality of their hotel and are more eager to visit popular tourist spots to take photos. They also tend to focus on shopping for items such as brand-name clothes, cosmetics, jewelry and electric home appliances, Sun said.

Most Chinese tourists come from wealthy coastal areas, and are government officials or employees of state enterprises, Sun said, adding that they generally tend to have higher incomes or enjoy government subsidies for air tickets, hotel accommodations and food.

While Taiwan's shopping environment is not superior to that of Hong Kong or Macau, and there is still no direct transport between the two sides of Taiwan Strait, Sun said Chinese tourists' spending levels in Taiwan were still high.

He suggested that domestic tourist agents focus on shopping that caters to the specific tastes of Chinese tourists to attract greater numbers of visitors from the potentially lucrative market.
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