INTERNATIONAL. Mainland Chinese remained the firm number one nationality for global tax free shopping spend in October, reports tax refund company Global Blue, with key Asian markets Japan and South Korea among the strongest performers.
Buoyed by strong Chinese travel and spending, Japan and South Korea were among the top ten global growth markets year-on-year in October. They accounted for 18% of global Tax Free Shopping (TFS) spend with an average spend of €488 for the month. This was driven partly by increased numbers of Chinese visiting Japan and Korea for Golden Week shopping trips.
France was still the number one TFS destination with 20% of global spend share and a +5% increase in sales year-on-year (the figures are for the month preceding the Paris terror attacks). Purchases in France are predominantly by the Chinese; their transactions are up +33% year-on-year and this month the Chinese have an average spend figure of €1,577.
By city, Paris remained the number one destination for globe shoppers with a +7% increase in TFS spend in the month, predominantly driven by Chinese and American visitors.
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Of the other key destination markets, Italy posted +5% growth, but each of the other top five markets – the UK, Germany and Singapore – posted declines.
The four biggest spending Middle East globe shoppers – from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar – represent the second largest group for global TFS spend share with 9% for October. Collectively this group saw +13% sales growth in the month, with the largest share in the UK, driving a +10% difference in spend (expressed in Euros) year-on-year.
Globe shoppers from the US are consistently ranking as Global Blue’s fourth largest spending nationality with 5% of TFS total sales in the month. Like the Chinese, they spend the most in France, driving a healthy +43% increase in spending there year-on-year (expressed in Euros).
