Hong Kong (Photo/Chinanews.com)

Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul ranked the top three hottest shopping destinations for Chinese tourists in 2018, said a big data report issued by China’s travel services provider Ctrip.

Edinburgh, Singapore and San Francisco were also on the top-ten list, according to the report.

In 2018, nearly 150 million overseas trips were made by Chinese tourists, during which time they spent a total of over $120 billion.

London, Paris and Macau were the cities that saw the highest per capita consumption stemming from Chinese tourists, followed by Dubai, Okinawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Singapore and Fukuoka. The per capita maximum consumption of Chinese citizens in a single transaction in London even exceeded 30,000 yuan ($4,428).

It’s understandable that London and Paris ranked at the top, as Europe is still a hot destination for Chinese luxury goods buyers. The prices of these products in Europe are much lower than the global average, and the tax refund also facilitated the sales.

Harrods, Selfridges & Co, Galeries Lafayette and the Printemps were all major shopping places for Chinese tourists, and more and more Chinese tourists are acquiring discount information from these department stores through online platforms.

Though the exchange rate of the pound kept rising in 2018, the UK still remained a hot destination for Chinese tourists, said Ctrip.

Experts noted that Chinese consumers would still be a focus of the global tourism competition in 2019, and many countries have upgraded their shopping facilities to lure Chinese tourists.