Beijing (
AsiaNews) - With 100 million tourists who visited at least one foreign country
in the course of 2013 , China has overtaken the U.S. to claim first place in
" exporting " its citizens. According
to data from the National Tourism
Administration , the Chinese abroad were 97 million in 2013, a considerable
increase compared to the past : in 2004 they had exceeded 29 million.
The
amount of money spent abroad is also up. Not
counting airfare and hotel accommodations , Chinese tourists spent about $ 110
billion in 2013 compared with 102 the previous year. They
have exceeded not only the Americans, but also the Germans in this field, until
today, "the biggest spenders" in foreign markets and shops .
Song
Rui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explains:
"Our tourists spend so much abroad that some foreigners have begun to call
them the 'walking wallets' ." The
analysis is not overwhelming: more and more high scale hotels and shops are trying
to attract Chinese visitors : Harrods , the famous London store , has recently
hired 70 employees who speak Mandarin . Also
inside, the megastore has more than 100 terminals in China Unionpay , which
allow direct payments from bank accounts in China.