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Tag: Golden week

  • Golden Week spending spree hits $180b

    Golden Week spending spree hits $180b

    Retailers and catering businesses were the main beneficiaries of the 1.2 trillion yuan (US$180 billion) Golden Week spending spree by Chinese consumers.

    This was 10.7 per cent up on last year’s figure, according to Ministry of Commerce (MOC) data, with the biggest spenders being in Chongqing municipality and Sichuan province in west China, and Hunan province in central China.

    Jewellery and gold, home appliances, IT products and energy cars were among the top picks during the week. There was also a demand for catering services for weddings, birthdays and family reunions.

    It is the second consecutive year Golden Week has hit the 1 trillion yuan spending milestone, says China.org.

    Despite an estimated 6 million Chinese tourists travelling overseas during the holiday week, domestic spending was highly encouraged, reports the International Business Times. Beijing has encouraged domestic spending to stimulate the economy, which jumped 6.7 per cent between January and June.

    “The economy this year, especially in the third quarter, is better than expected,” according to Premier Le Keqiang.

    A joint report by the China Tourism Research Institute and cTrip shows Chinese tourists spent as much as 8000 yuan during the national holiday.

    About 593 million Chinese tourists visited attractions across China, says the China National Tourism Administration, spending a total of 482.2 billion yuan, 12.8 per cent year on year.

    Golden Week, from October 1 to 7, is a national holiday of seven consecutive days.

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  • Macau tourist arrivals rise over Golden Week

    Macau tourist arrivals rise over Golden Week

    Macau’s move to reposition itself from gaming hub to shopping and entertainment destination appears to be paying off already.

    Tourist numbers rose in Macau over Golden Week as an expanding shopping offer and shows drew 8.45 per cent more visitors than the same period last year.

    During Golden Week – from October 1 to October 10 – 1.61 million people visited Macau according to data from the Public Security Police Force.

    Total border crossings at the city’s seven immigration checkpoints reached 4.7 million for the 10 days: 2,355,720 arrivals and 2,359,090 departures.

    Of the seven border checkpoints, the Border Gate recorded the highest number of arrivals and departures, at 1.15 million and 1.28 million, respectively. The second popular border was the Outer Harbour Terminal on the Peninsula, with 157,211 arrivals and 150,749 departures recorded.

    The busiest day of Golden Week was the third day with 520,386 border crossings registered.

  • Enjoy “Golden Moments” at Singapore Golden Week 2016

    Enjoy “Golden Moments” at Singapore Golden Week 2016

    Come 30 September, Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) will launch Singapore Golden Week (SGW) 2016 – a brand new lifestyle event to be held over three weekends from 30 September to 16 October, with global payment network UnionPay as the Official Card. With the aim of heightening the appeal of Singapore as a choice lifestyle destination for locals and tourists, the inaugural SGW 2016 will feature a suite of golden retail privileges, sure-win rewards and pampering experiences for consumers to indulge in. 

    GOLDEN “RETAIL” PRIVILEGES

    Over 200 participating outlets across retail, food and beverage (F&B), beauty and wellness, as well as hotels and attractions categories among others, will be giving UnionPay Cardholders more reasons to spend with exclusive “Golden Retail Privileges” at SGW 2016. 

    Cardholders can enjoy exclusive discounts as well as gifts with purchase when they shop at participating merchants with their UnionPay cards at SGW 2016. Popular participating merchants include department stores Isetan Scotts, Metro and Robinsons; clothing labels Dockers, Dorothy Perkins, Karen Millen, Levi’s, T.M.Lewin, Topshop, Topman, Warehouse; local attraction Alive Museum and many more.

    GOLDEN “SURE-WIN” REWARDS

    During SGW 2016, Cardholders who make a minimum purchase of S$50* with their UnionPay card anywhere in Singapore can take part in the “Golden Sure-Win Rewards” game located at ION Orchard’s Level 1 Atrium. In addition, shoppers who make purchases within ION Orchard can enjoy double chances of winning. Shoppers who spend $688 and above at selected Premier Tax Free merchants are entitled to a free limousine ride*. With over S$10,000 worth of shopping vouchers and prizes up for grabs in the “Golden Sure-Win Rewards” game, everyone can be a winner at SGW 2016!

    GOLDEN “PAMPERING” EXPERIENCES AT THE UNIONPAY GOLDEN LOUNGE

    In addition to the golden retail privileges and sure-win rewards, SGW 2016 promises pampering experiences for all locals and tourists, including non UnionPay Cardholders. Simply pop by the exclusive UnionPay “Golden Pampering Lounge” located at ION Orchard’s Level 1 Atrium, to enjoy a fresh cup of gourmet coffee, free flow gourmet cookies and take a break from the busy downtown shopping environment.

    UnionPay Cardholders can also present their UnionPay card to gain access to the exclusive VIP area, decked out with OSIM massage chairs for an even more luxurious experience. Plus, Cardholders can enjoy a special cup of gourmet “Gold Brew” coffee sprinkled with edible gold dust for the additional gold rush. With mobile charging ports available for the power-hungry and some of Singapore’s favourite brands and foods on show, there will not be a single dull moment at the “Golden Pampering Lounge”. 

    “UnionPay is delighted to be named as the Official Card for Singapore Golden Week 2016. As a brand new lifestyle event to be held over three weekends in September and October, we hope that this will light up the local retail scene, and offer new lifestyle experiences for both local and overseas UnionPay Cardholders to enjoy. And as we continue to build on the momentum to provide better products and services for consumers here in Singapore, we also hope to be able to, at the same time, bring fresh experiences, more choices and excitement to everyone,” said Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager of UnionPay International Southeast Asia.

    “Singapore Retailers Association is pleased to partner UnionPay again to bring consumers yet another event to look forward to and a new golden opportunity for the industry to leverage on. With a base of over 5.4 billion UnionPay Cards issued worldwide, Singapore Golden Week aims to create a new opportunity for retailers to drive spending among the overseas UnionPay Cardholders who will be here, as well as UnionPay Cardholders in Singapore. We are excited about the new business opportunities that SGW presents and the benefits that our partnership with UnionPay can potentially bring to participating merchants,” said Mr. Anthony Gan, Executive Director, Singapore Retailers Association.

    “ION Orchard is a favourite mall among locals and Chinese tourists and is the ideal location for UnionPay’s first Singapore Golden Week campaign. We are especially delighted to be the official mall that houses UnionPay’s Golden Pampering Lounge for their campaign for all redemptions. The central location along Orchard Road will certainly make shopping more convenient – and for purchases made at ION Orchard, shoppers will enjoy double chances when playing the ‘Golden Sure-Win Rewards’ game at the lounge, making it a truly rewarding shopping experience,” said Mr. Chris Chong, CEO Orchard Turn Developments.

    UnionPay International focuses on supporting the growth of UnionPay’s global payments business. With an acceptance footprint covering 160 countries and regions globally, UnionPay serves the world’s largest cardholder base by providing quality, cost-effective and secure payment services to over 5.4 billion Cardholders worldwide.

    In Singapore, UnionPay enables efficient and cost-effective payment services that are tailored to the needs of local businesses and consumers. UnionPay cards are issued by Bank of China (BOC), DBS Bank (DBS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore, and are accepted at over 80 percent of retail, lifestyle and food and beverage establishments locally, as well as at almost all automated teller machines (ATMs) across the island.

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  • Tourists invisible to Hong Kong retailers

    Tourists invisible to Hong Kong retailers

    While more tourists have been crossing the border for the ongoing Golden Week, there has not been much gold in it for Hong Kong retailers.

    Visitor numbers jumped more than 14.1 per cent on Saturday, the start of the holiday, according to the Hong Kong Immigration Department (IMMD).

    This has mainly been attributed to visitors from the neighbouring Guangdong province, with cheaper hotel rooms and convenient travel making Hong Kong an accessible choice, says the South China Morning Post.

    Statistics show that more than 200,000 visitors arrived on the first day of the national holiday, a jump from last year’s 177,000. But despite the rise, the visitors have been spending less – hardly good news for Hong Kong retailers, who have already been feeling the pinch. With Hong Kong no longer riding the wave as the first port of call for Chinese tourists, retailers were warned last month that they need to discount or die.

    For the new influx of visitors, their travel and buying patterns differ from previous mainland tourists as they are familiar with Hong Kong and tend to visit relatives, go sightseeing and buy from stores in residential areas. Family visitors and Shenzhen residents spiked more than 40 per cent on the first day of the holiday, while those crossing the border on the “L visa” dropped 5 per cent.

    Hong Kong retailers are already branding this the worst-ever Golden Week, with many reporting lower numbers of mainland tourists, fewer tour buses and less spending.

    However, Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung says the divergence between tourist numbers and luxury sales is a “good sign”.

    “The city’s tourism sector is normalising,” he says, with high-quality individual tourists compensating for the loss in mainland tour groups, which have long been criticised for forcing visitors to buy high-priced products at designated shops.

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  • How Chinese shop in Korea

    How Chinese shop in Korea

    Japanese and South Korean retailers are smiling… but these scenes are enough to make a Hong Kong retailer weep: Watch how Chinese shop over Golden Week… in Tokyo, Seoul or Boston… Not in Hong Kong, their traditional destination.

    Chinese tourists, famous for leaving shelves bare when they shop abroad, went on a shopping spree in Korea, Japan and the US during last week’s National Holiday of the People’s Republic of China, better known in Asia as Golden Week.

    Tour guides say that the average Chinese tourist that visits Japan spends approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Yuan, which is around US$3140 to $4720, on shopping.

    Shopping is actually the main reason for travel during Golden Week.

    This year, Chinese tourists flocked to duty free stores in Seoul, Busan and Jeju, as shown in the photographs, as well as large discount stores and markets, clearing shelves of stock, according toKoreabizwire and Yonhap news service.

    The Korean press reported instances of Chinese tourists buying “hundreds of thousands of won worth of cosmetics” in just two to three hours at duty free stores.

     

    In Japan, Chinese tourists were bought over the counter drugs in bulk: cough medicine, painkillers, glasses, sleep shades and stationary are popular Japanese products among Chinese tourists. Baby products, also.

    Earlier this year, during the Chinese New Year Holiday, Japanese electronic rice cookers and bidets were cleaned off the shelves by Chinese tourists.

    In the US there were similar stories, Koreabizwire reported.

    According to a local tour operator in Boston, Chinese tourists stopped by a Gucci Outlet to buy bags, and most of them bought three or four bags at once, with some purchasing as many as seven at once.

    “They were shopping as if they were just grabbing free stuff,” said a local guide.

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  • Beijing retail sales rise

    Beijing has reported a rise in retail sales during the week-long National Day holiday that began last Thursday.

    Chinese government news agency Xinhua reports both locals and tourists have “spent heavily” on consumer goods.

    During the first six days of October, Beijing’s 100 leading retailers reported a total sales revenue of 5.3 billion yuan (about US$833.7 million), up 6.2 per cent on the same period of last year, according to figures released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce.

    The figures were collected from Beijing’s major retail outlets including shops, supermarkets and restaurants, it said in a press release.

    Many avid shoppers took advantage of the National Day promotions offered by most retailers to buy winter clothing and the latest models of smartphones and other digital products.

    While housewives flooded supermarkets to buy food for their family feasts, many others chose to dine at some of the city’s most famous restaurants.

    A surge of customers from locals and sightseers has brought an average 10 percent increase in revenue at these restaurants, according to the municipal commission of commerce.

    It said the Golden Week has witnessed a 20 per cent surge in gold and jewellery sales, as the holiday week is also a prime time for weddings.

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  • Golden Week loses its glitter in Hong Kong

    Golden Week loses its glitter in Hong Kong

    It was a lukewarm Golden Week for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the number of visitors to the city remained stagnant at levels seen during the same period a year earlier.

    Confounding the SAR’s woes were reports from several leading retailers about sluggish sales.

    The Hong Kong SAR Immigration Department said on Wednesday that during the first six days of the National Day holiday starting Oct 1, the city received more than 1 million visitors from the mainland, or 3.26 percent more than last year.

    The holiday, also known as the Golden Week, is one of the longest nationwide holidays and an important peak season for Hong Kong’s tourism industry.

    Six days into the Golden Week, Hong Kong recorded 2.45 million visitors arriving in the city, 5.82 percent less than the same period in 2014. The busiest day was Oct 2, when 443,640 visitors passed border check points. Among them, 202,703, or 45.69 percent, came from the mainland.

    Yet on the street level, this Golden Week was less glaring than the previous ones. Few mainland shoppers were seen queuing up outside the luxury stores along Canton Road in Tsim Tsa Tsui, one of the city’s prime shopping hot spots.

    “This year Hong Kong received a lot of transit passengers and many other visitors are single-day returns. That is why this Golden Week appears to be quieter,” Joseph Tung Yao-chung, executive director at the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, told China Daily.

    According to Tung, the fact that many destinations in the region relaxed visa application thresholds to mainland tourists has changed the game. “It’s now much easier to visit countries such as Japan, South Korea and even the United States. Competition is fierce for Hong Kong,” he said.

    However, Macao, the peer city of Hong Kong, recorded 799,717 mainland tourists from Oct 1 to 6, 6.3 percent more compared with 2014. Total visitors arriving at Macao also increased 1.8 percent year-on-year to 938,197 during the same period.

    Gregory So Kam-leung, secretary for commerce and economic development of Hong Kong, said on Tuesday that the city needs to develop more attractions to stay competitive. He added bad weather also has affected the holiday atmosphere.

    Tung said protests against mainland tourists earlier this year did not drive visitors away, as such activities involved “only very few people” and “Hong Kong in general welcomes tourists”.

    He said that with discounts offered, hotels in the SAR still managed to fill 80 to 90 percent of their rooms. “The key is to do more promotions and attract more overnight visitors. We have confidence in local catering and shopping offers. Hong Kong is still one of the top choices for mainland tourists.”

    Other sectors are not so optimistic. Ahead of the weeklong holiday, the Hong Kong Retail Management Association forecasted “a single-digit to a low double-digit drop in sales value” for most of the member companies during the Golden Week compared with the same period last year.

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  • Despite Slowdown, China’s Outbound Tourists Reach 242 Million

    Despite Slowdown, China’s Outbound Tourists Reach 242 Million

    As Chinese tourists head across the globe for Golden Week this week, luxury retailers are worried that an ailing stock market and devalued yuan will lead to muted growth compared to holiday seasons of the past. But according to newly released figures, long-term growth prospects remain strong for Chinese travelers, who are expected to double in number over the next decade.

    Some destinations may be in for a Chinese spending slump when it comes to luxury shopping over the holiday. According to recent figures released by Global Blue, UK luxury retailers are especially expected to feel the pain of China’s current economic woes during Golden Week.

    The retail tourism firm reported that the devaluation of the yuan in June led to a 2 percent year-on-year decline in Chinese tourist spending in August for the UK, down from 8 percent growth in spending between January and July.

    According to an official statement, “Global Blue is anticipating the Golden Week rush will be significantly weaker this year, and the decline could continue throughout the fourth quarter as Chinese are left disinclined to book trips abroad.”

    But retailers shouldn’t fret too much about long-term prospects, as a recent study published by HSBC found that outbound Chinese traveler numbers are expected to hit 242 million by 2024—a number more than double last year’s amount, which was estimated by HSBC to be 116 million. In addition, a recent report by the Fung Business Intelligence Center and China Luxury Advisors found that outbound Chinese traveler spending will hit $422 billion by 2020, up from an estimated $200 billion this year.

    Even as retailers fret about their sales prospects for this Golden Week, not everyone is expected to lose out. A weak euro still makes Europe a popular destination despite the devalued Chinese currency, and Global Blue found that Chinese shopper numbers in Europe rose by 74 percent in the first half of this year.

    Online travel agency Ctrip still expects outbound tour bookings to double for the period, and has reported that Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bangkok are the top three holiday destinations for Chinese tourists. While luxury retailers in some destinations may be noticing the slowdown much more than others, those that keep their eye on the prize when it comes to Chinese travelers are more likely to have a fruitful decade to come.

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  • Gold at Discount for Fourth Week in India, China Goes on Holiday

    Gold at Discount for Fourth Week in India, China Goes on Holiday

    Gold prices in India continued to trade at a discount for a fourth straight week, while premiums in China fell before it went on a week-long national holiday, in signs of sluggish demand in top consuming region Asia.

    Persistent weakness in India and China, which together account for about half of global demand, could add more pressure on gold prices, already reeling from a looming US interest rate hike.

    In India, retail demand dwindled due to the start of Shradh, a two-week period considered an inauspicious time to buy gold, property or any big purchases.

    Demand was also reduced by a weak monsoon that has eroded farmers’ income. Two-thirds of Indian gold demand comes from rural areas, where jewellery is a traditional store of wealth.

    “Prices are attractive, but retail demand has moderated due to the start of Shradh,” said Kumar Jain, vice-president of the Mumbai Jewellers Association.

    Discounts remained steady from last week at $6-$8 an ounce to the global benchmark.

    “Local refiners are aggressively selling due to duty advantage they are getting on dore import,” said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank.

    A lower import duty of 8.24 per cent on dore, versus the 10.30 per cent on refined gold, is helping refiners offer a bigger discount than banks, he said.

    In top consumer China, premiums slipped to $1-$2 an ounce this week, from around $5 early last week, before markets closed on Thursday for a week-long holiday.

    Robust imports across the region since July, when gold price dropped to a 5-1/2-year low, was also adding to woes in the physical market.

    “There is an oversupply in the precious space,” said a dealer with a bullion bank in Hong Kong. “There was a lot of enthusiasm earlier with the price drop but now not so much.”

    “Physical demand is subdued so we are in a situation where we are stuck with the metal,” he said.

    However, things could pick up as the fourth quarter is a seasonally strong period for gold demand in both the countries.

    Chinese demand is expected to pick up from the ongoing Golden Week holiday, when millions of people travel and spend more than usual, boosting retail sales, and lasts until Lunar New Year early next year.

    In India too, an auspicious period kicks off around mid-October.

    “After Shradh, demand will improve significantly as festivals and wedding season are lined up,” said Mumbai Jewellers Association’s Jain.

     

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