Chinese travelers spend 32% more in Asia as Europe tourism hurt by attacks

(jingdaily.com) - The recent terrorist attacks in Europe led to a 24 percent global Chinese tax-free spending decline in March as sales in Asia grew significantly, according to a new report by Global Blue. The tax-free shopping provider’s newly released “Globe Shopper Report: China Edition” finds that this drop comes after the growth rate slowed to 11 percent in January and only 5 percent in February. The terrorist attacks in Paris in November and Brussels in March were a significant factor in this drop, according to the report, which says that 56 percent of respondents in a survey of 5,000 regular Chinese travelers said that safety was an important factor in choosing a destination. While Europe cooled, Asia saw a much stronger Chinese tax-free spending growth rate of 32 percent for the first quarter of this year, with Chinese shopping hotspot Japan seeing an especially significant growth rate of 50 percent. Chinese tourists made 54 percent of all tax-free purchases in the APAC region.