Japan proved to be a popular destination among holidaymakers as approximately 400,000 tourists from mainland China visited the country during the weeklong National Day holiday. According to China Daily, these tourists account for almost 100 billion yen or $830 million in shopping revenue.
Also known as the Golden Week, the National Day holiday (Oct. 1-7) provided time for Chinese tourists to do some traveling.
While in Japan, Chinese customers bought specialty goods such as luxury items, facial masks, household items, and even toilet seats. Some stores even put a quantity limit per customer for fears of running out of stock.
Medical paraphernalia and drugs were also bought by Chinese tourists as Japan is slowly becoming a destination for medical tourism.
This shopping spree helped boost the Japanese economy by around 0.1 percent. According to Global Blue, which handles tax refunds for international shoppers, the boost presents a 20-year high.
Japanese products, despite Sino-Japanese tensions, remain popular among Chinese people because of cultural affinities, the quality of goods, as well as the devaluation of the yen, said the report.
The fact that retailers in Japan as well as South Korea and France have introduced Chinese-speaking shopping assistants might have also helped increase the shopping revenue earned over the Golden Week. Welcome signs written in Chinese were also introduced by retailers as part of their efforts to become more accommodating.
According to data from online travel platform Ctrip, Japan was the favored overseas destination among mainland Chinese tourists over the course of the holiday. Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macao were also named as top destinations.
The number of tourists who came to Japan during the Golden Week also doubled in contrast to the figures in 2014.