Research undertaken by the University of Technology (UTS) Business School revealed that Asian tourists visiting Sydney spend as much as 6.5 times more than other tourists. It was found that there is a huge spending capacity of Asian tourists who are in Australia as part of incentive schemes. A 2015 visitor survey from Tourism Australia also reinforces this in saying that the Chinese tourism market alone is worth a record $8.3 billion per year and growing strongly.
CEO of Business Events Sydney Lyn Lewis-Smith said, “Asian tourism is the most powerful force behind the current boom in visitors to our city. Each day conference tourists are here, close to $1000 per person is pumped into Sydney’s hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, shops and souvenir outlets.”
The massive spending is also due to Asian tourists stocking up on luxury goods such as baby powder vitamins and face creams. In China, shoppers can be paying up to 20% more for products because of luxury goods taxes. Therefore tourists are making the most of the quality and value in the products Australia has to offer by bulk buying. The UTS research also revealed that the average traveller spend 30% on clothing, handbags and shoes, 22% on souvenirs, jewellery and toys and 10% on food and drink.
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