End of the boom? ‘Explosive shopping’ by Chinese tourists in Japan may be on the wane
Per capita spending by mainland tourists in Japan is down almost 19 per cent, as luxury items become more available in China
The heady days of Chinese travellers arriving in a shopping district in one of Japan’s major cities and stripping the shelves of the nearest stores appear to be over.
And analysts say Japanese retailers are unlikely to again witness the shopping frenzy that gripped Chinese visitors a couple of years ago.
The extravagant spending habits of cash-rich mainland Chinese in Japan was even given its own expression, “bakugai”, meaning “explosive shopping”.
But while visitor numbers continue to climb, hitting 24.04 million in 2016, up 22 per cent from the previous year and surpassing the 20 million mark for the first time, Chinese tourists are being a good deal more circumspect with their cash.
The outlet was to be operated by the Lotte Group of South Korea and the three companies had set a target of 13 billion yen (HK$883.90 million) in sales in the first year of operations.
Despite impressive arrivals figures, foreign visitors spent 971.7 billion yen (HK$66.07 billion) in the July-September quarter, down 2.9 percent from the same period in the previous year and the first decline in 19 quarters. Per capita outlays during the same period came to 155,133 yen (HK$10,548), down more than 17 per cent.