With their shelves spilling over with festive goodies, London’s department stores are working hard to attract Christmas shoppers – but Chinese visitors are the particular target of a charm offensive.
Hotels, retailers and the government are stepping up efforts to woo big-spending Chinese visitors in a bid to bounce back from Britain’s longest recession in half a century.
Congee and dumplings are on the breakfast menu at enterprising hotels, major London stores have installed Chinese bank card terminals, and Mandarin-speaking staff are on hand to help out with the Christmas shopping.
Britain is courting Chinese travellers not only because they are a rapidly growing market – they made an estimated 70 million overseas trips last year, up 20 per cent in just a year – but because they are serious shoppers.
“My goodness, they spend,” said Patricia Yates, director of strategy for the VisitBritain tourism authority.
“The average Chinese visitor spends about three times as much – as the average visitor to Britain,” she told reporters.