Luxury brands gearing up for China tourists during CNY

Shanghai

FROM Paris to New York, purveyors of luxury goods are teaching staff Mandarin, offering traditional New Year hongbao gifts and flocking to social media sites as well-heeled Chinese tourists pack their bags to ring in the Year of the Goat abroad.

Chinese shoppers spent around 380 billion yuan (S$81.7 billion) on luxury products worldwide last year, with spending outside China up 21 per cent even as domestic sales of high-end brands dipped for the first time due to a government clampdown on excessive gift-giving, said consultancy Bain & Co on Tuesday.