Chinese tourists are golden harbingers

Foreign destinations are courting big-spending Chinese tourists. Harrods in London now has 100 Union Pay terminals scattered throughout the store and is recruiting Mandarin-speaking staff to serve Chinese tourists - Paris-based luxury goods store Printemps has been doing the same. In Canada, ski resorts are scrambling to hire Mandarin-speaking ski instructors - some 5-10 million Chinese now go skiing, compared with just 10,000 in 1998.

The Chinese leadership's crackdown on corrupt officials is unlikely to curb the spending of Chinese people traveling abroad. While some government officials did exploit their positions to travel abroad and splurge on luxury goods, with about 100 million Chinese now traveling overseas, such officials' share of outbound Chinese tourism and spending is certainly miniscule.

A much more important factor that could slow the growth of aggregate spending by China's outbound tourists is the shift in the kind of Chinese traveling abroad. According to the CITM survey, big spending tourists - those blowing up $1,619-8,095 a day - comprised 17 percent of those surveyed. Twice as many (36 percent) spent $81-324 a day, while 2 percent spent $324-810 a day.

With China set to institute far-reaching financial reform, the yuan is likely to appreciate in the long-term. That development, combined with the growth of the middle class and improved air transportation, will further increase the numbers of less affluent outbound tourists. These budget travelers will go overseas not so much to shop, but to experience foreign cultures and natural sceneries.

This is not to say that Chinese overseas tourists will soon cease being the goose that lays the golden egg for those who cater to them in overseas travel destinations. But the golden eggs will become, at least on a per capita basis, considerably smaller as the share of big spenders who have driven up that average falls.

That is all for the best. It will surely be a great day for China's overseas image when its citizens traveling abroad are appreciated not just for their role in boosting local economies, but for their interest and engagement in local cultures as well.

The author is a senior consultant at Hill + Knowlton Strategies.