Chinese shoppers are Asia’s biggest airport spenders, study finds

Chinese travellers are outspending their Asian peers at the region’s airports in search of gifts, food and luxury purchases, a trade association has found.

Passengers from China have led the recovery in Asia’s airport retail since the Covid-19 pandemic, spending twice the regional average on luxury goods, according to a study by the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific and Middle East released earlier this month.

China’s travellers have logged the “highest spend per passenger of any nationality” during the post-pandemic period, the association’s director general, Stefano Baronci, said earlier this month. Recovery in spending has outpaced that of passenger volumes, he added.

The trend reflects the strength of China’s outbound travel market, which has bounced back strongly since the pandemic even as demand in other sectors of the Chinese economy has remained sluggish. The market was worth an estimated US$140 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach US$386 billion by 2033, according to a report by HSBC.

Many Chinese travellers choose to buy confectionary goods at airports to give as gifts back home, according to Baronci. About 27 per cent of passengers called these sweets their “preferred category”, with local products at 17 per cent and luxury goods at 12 per cent, he said.

“Chinese travellers display one of the most diversified retail baskets in our research report, rather than an over-concentration in a single category,” Baronci said.