What: While Chinese tourists are slowly traveling abroad again, analysts state that their shopping taking place overseas won’t return to its peak.

Why it is important: The change in behavior stands to impact brands and destinations that have previously been reliant on big-spending Chinese tourists.

China’s big-spending shoppers are back, but they’re doing more shopping at home as domestic luxury offerings have grown and prices of goods are rising across the world. With improvements made to shopping venues and customer services such as flash sales and exhibitions that encourage impulse buys, Chinese consumers are more likely than ever to shop domestically.

62% of luxury spending by Chinese consumers took place inside its borders in April, compared to 41% in the same month in 2019.

Prior to Covid, China was the world’s fastest growing source of tourists with the majority of their luxury spending taking place outside of the mainland in 2019.

Now, the future of Chinese luxury spending can be seen in Hainan, an island for high-end duty-free shopping that saw sales boom during Covid and April sales remaining 203% above 2019 levels.

With luxury being more accessible in China, Chinese consumers no longer want to wait in long lines in European cities, they want to connect with local sales associates who know them and can advise them better.

Big-spending Chinese shoppers are splurging on luxury at home, not abroad anymore