Britain is on its way to witness a record breaking year for inbound Chinese travellers as well as tourist spending.
Tourism experts feel that the weak pound following the ongoing political uncertainty in the UK would be ushering in an increased number of visitors from China, with cheap shopping being one of the major interests.
A travel consultancy named ForwardKeys has released official data that indicates that the long-haul flight bookings to the UK have risen by nearly 10% from where they had existed this time last year. But then, the key target markets that are triggering this sustained growth include the US, up by 19%, and also China marking a unprecedented rise by 29%.
This has been setting the UK on a path for a record breaking summer season and year in terms of Chinese arrivals.
While the Chinese visitors to the UK are thrilled by the idea of a wide variety of tourist activities like sightseeing, luxury shopping is among the largest draws. For instance, it is estimated that almost 70% of tourists visiting the flagship store of Burberry in London comprise Chinese tourists.
The terror attacks occurring this year in Britain especially the Manchester attack paved the path for a good deal of speculation that the inbound tourism to the UK is likely to be hampered.
But, currently, it seems that they would have little impact.
However, a weaker pound implies that a greater number of Chinese tourists are ready to visit the UK would try to take advantage of cheaper prices. This is great news for retailers in the UK as Chinese tourists are really big spenders. Furthermore, given the high prices of authentic luxury branded goods in China, Chinese visitors often make attempts to shop at luxury retailers abroad.
VisitBritain said that Chinese travellers to the UK had splurged an average of nearly £2,000 during their visits last year.
The arrivals and spending of Chinese tourists had slumped by 3.4% last year and 12.4% on account of the November 2015 Paris attacks.
