Golden Week shines beyond China's borders

Chinese and Malaysian tourists take photographs of the Sydney Opera House from a viewing deck on Sydney Harbor on Oct 4.[Photo/Agencies]

A record number of Chinese headed overseas for the weeklong National Day holiday, and their behaviors are changing as their ranks swell. Neil Hall and Nicole Nee report in London and Singapore.

When Ines Chou was planning her Golden Week holiday, it was Britain's history and heritage rather than its high-street shops that lured her to the country.

Chou was among a record 6 million Chinese expected to have traveled overseas for the holiday, which ended on Saturday, and offers insights into the changing travel tastes of a key group of holidaymakers for the retail and travel sectors in top destination countries.

"London has a lot of culture and free museums," says the marketing director from Beijing, who visited the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Opera House during her trip.

Total spending this week by the 750 million Chinese tourists at home and abroad is expected to hit $72 billion this year, according to the China Travel Academy, a government-backed research institute.

The shopping hot spots of Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore have long been favorites for Chinese visitors. But a reduced appetite for luxury has left some retailers feeling the pinch.

"They used to spend money like nobody's business, so we would always look forward to (the National Day) Golden Week," says Azri, a supervisor at the Salvatore Ferragamo boutique in Singapore's upscale ION Orchard mall.

Chinese tourists could easily spend up to S$3,000 ($2,100) per person. "But now it's so difficult to get them to spend even S$1,000," Azri says.

In Hong Kong, the number of mainland tour groups fell by 20 percent from Oct 1-3, says Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong.