China has taken over first place as the biggest source of tourism spending in the world.
Some 83 million Chinese travellers spent a whopping $102 billion in 2012, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
Rising disposable income and relaxed restrictions on foreign travel have turned loose pent-up demand among the Chinese, pushing the volume of international trips by Chinese travellers from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012.
Since 2005, when China ranked seventh in tourist spending, it has overtaken Italy, Japan, France, the UK, the US, and, finally, Germany to seize the number-one spot.
Also making big strides upward on the list of spenders this year was the Russian Federation, moving up from seventh to fifth with a 32% increase, and Brazil, jumping to number 12 from 29.
The traditional top-spending tourists were still on the road, too, though their expenditures grew more slowly.
Spending by Germany and the US, in second and third place, grew 6%.
The UK was next, spending $52 billion, up 4%; Canadian spending grew by 7%; Australia and Japan were up 3%.
France (-6%) and Italy (-1%) were the only markets in the top ten to decline in international tourism spending.
The full report will be published in the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer at the end of this month.
by Cheryl Rosen, Editor TravelMole US
