Chinese Spend $7.2 Billion on Luxury Goods

Chinese tourists continue to open their pocketbooks wide when traveling overseas. They spent a record 7.2 billion dollars on luxury goods overseas last month, according to the World Luxury Association. Around the Lunar New Year, many are doing their shopping overseas for high-end gifts. Chinese make up the largest share of the overseas luxury goods market. Last month’s spending was up nearly 30% from January of 2011, which was $5.6 billion. Chinese purchases made up 62% of the European luxury goods market, and roughly 33% of the US luxury goods market. The majority of items purchased were designer and brand name watches, bags, clothes and cosmetics.