Avery Booker of Jing Daily reveals that group travel from China is now on the wane, as 72% of China’s outbound tourists look to individual “high-end” travel experiences
CONSUMERS
Chinese Outbound Tourist-Shoppers flock to Paris & New York
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Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Avery Booker of Jing Daily reveals that group travel from China is now on the wane, as 72% of China’s outbound tourists look to individual “high-end” travel experiences
Mainland Chinese consumers made more than half of their luxury purchases last year overseas. In fact, the growing presence of Chinese outbound tourist-shoppers is becoming a significant part of luxury retail, in major destinations like Paris, London and New York.
Member’s only private network, Affinity China, offers exclusive luxury lifestyle events and unique travel opportunities to its members as they travel beyond China. The group recently launched China Luxury Network (CLN), to provide global luxury brands with market intelligence, strategic advice and possibilities for engagement with China’s emerging luxury consumer, both inside and outside of the country.
According to it’s debut report, the rise of individual tourism among wealthy Chinese is a key trend that luxury brands can’t afford to ignore. The report found that group travel from China – which has defined Chinese outbound travel since its first stirrings in the 1980s – is now on the wane, as 72 percent of China’s outbound tourists now prefer individual “high-end” travel experiences.
“ In order to meet the more sophisticated needs of Chinese outbound tourists, global brands need to be attentive to insights into China’s fast-emerging luxury consumers ”
“In order to meet the more sophisticated needs of Chinese outbound tourists,” the study concluded, “global brands now, more than ever, need to be attentive to insights into China’s fast-emerging luxury consumers.”
Understanding not only what well-heeled Chinese tourists want to buy on their overseas trips but when they travel is another “must” for global brands and retailers. At CLN’s inaugural symposium, three major “exoduses” of Chinese outbound travelers were highlighted: Chinese New Year (January 23 – 25), China Labor Day Holiday (May 1 – 3) and China National Day Holiday (October 1 – 3).
Remarking on the importance of understanding annual travel and consumption trends, Sage Brennan, co-founder of China Luxury Network, said, “Reaching the Chinese consumer is not just about launching retail locations in China. Chinese consumers have gone global, and expect brands to recognize their preferences and treat them appropriately.”
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With a decade of experience working in the Greater China market, specializing in luxury branding, new media, and trend forecasting, Avery Booker has closely watched and chronicled the emergence of the global Chinese luxury consumer on the world stage.
