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Tourists pose for photographs next to a cathedral in the Andalusian capital of Seville in southern Spain. Photo: Reuters

Mandarin maps and rice for breakfast: Chinese tourists become Spain's top holiday spenders

Country's tourists outpace Russians for the first time in spending in the European nation

Chinese holidaymakers are now Spain's biggest spenders, outstripping Russians for the first time, as the tourism industry rushes to adapt to their tastes with a string of measures designed to keep them coming.

Between April and September last year, Chinese tourists were responsible for 31 per cent of Spain's tourist revenue, according to tourist spending consultancy Global Blue.

During the same period, spending by Russians - previously the biggest spenders per head - fell by 14.3 per cent after worsening relations between the European Union and Russia and the fall in the value of the rouble against the euro.

Now Spain is fast waking up to the rising number of Chinese visitors, with welcome signs in Chinese increasingly seen alongside other languages in shops, museums and other tourist sites.

Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum , which houses many 19th-century Impressionist paintings, last year started offering maps in Chinese - the first major museum in the Spanish capital to do so.

Some hotels are offering access to Chinese TV stations and adapting their menus to cater to Chinese tastes, including noodles with chicken, dim sum and white rice at breakfast.

Ten Spanish cities have joined an organisation called Chinese Friendly, which promotes them to the growing market.

Kurt Grotsch of Chinese Friendly said: "Luxury shops are taking on Chinese staff, but I would advise smaller shops and companies to have a small description of their products in Mandarin and that restaurants explain in Chinese their dishes and the way they are cooked."

Chinese Friendly promotes Spanish cities in China on social media, at tourism fairs and also invites Chinese tourism officials to Spain so that they can get to know the country.

Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are keenly aware of the potential of the Chinese market and launched commemorative videos to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

A record 287,866 Chinese citizens visited Spain last year, up 13.9 per cent compared to the previous year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

While Britons, Germans and the French head for the beach, Chinese tourists tend to prefer to visit Spain's biggest cities.

Almost two-thirds of all Chinese spending in Spain last year happened in the country's most luxurious areas, Madrid's Barrio de Salamanca and Barcelona's Paseo de Gracia. Chinese tourists who visited Spain in 2013 spent an average €2,040 (HK$18,100) on a package deal as well as €167 a day on shopping, mainly clothing, according to data from the World Tourism Organisation.

Despite the rising attraction of Spain, Chinese tourists are still spending the most in Paris, which remains their favourite foreign destination.

Globally, Chinese tourist spending rose 18 per cent last year.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Chinese visitors now reign in Spain
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