Luxury shoppers to spend nearer home

A major industry survey has claimed that the weakening economy is dousing the enthusiasm of Chinese visitors to travel long distances for luxury shopping.

Despite wealthy Chinese tourists spending $45 billion on luxury items in foreign countries last year, Euromonitor International said nearer destinations such as South Korea and Thailand are taking the place of more distant venues such as North America or Western Europe.

It said Chinese made more than 2 million trips to the United States last year, an increase of almost 12 percent on 2013. And Chinese tourists made 1.7 million trips to France in 2014, with many including shopping excursions to luxury retailers in their itineraries.