Chinese tourists drive UK sales higher in Golden Week

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 20, 2017

Golden Week really was golden for stores in Britain as Chinese tourists spent heavily there in the first few days of October, according to new data.

Payments firm Worldpay said that Chinese visitors spent £29 million using payment cards in the UK during the holiday period with £11 million of that being spent in London alone, largely in luxury and premium stores.

Interestingly, given how under pressure the department stores sector has been, Worldpay said that these stores benefited hugely from Golden Week with sales in their physical stores up by almost a third compared to the average for the time of year.

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That should help ease some of the disappointment over September’s sales figures. A raft of reports showed that they proved weak, despite some promising sales indicators earlier in the month.

In the first week of October though, Chinese tourists were clearly flocking to London’s West End but they weren’t just shopping. Worldpay figures showed that spending by this group in restaurants and pubs in the area also surged 23%.
Worldpay's James Frost said: "Britain's status as a world-class destination for shopping has captured the attention of Chinese tourists who are flocking to the UK in their droves. According to one recent study, flight bookings from China to the UK are up 10% year-on-year or the September to November period of 2017."

Visitors have been attracted in particular by the weak pound that has been boosting tourist arrivals since the Brexit referendum last year. But as well as the cheap pound, the strong mix of stores in key London shopping areas, and regional centres like Bicester Village near Oxford, have proved to be a major attraction.

Holiday periods being enjoyed by international shoppers are increasingly key for tourist spend in the UK and back in June, Worldpay said that Middle Eastern tourist spend during Eid week had surged 25%.