Skyscanner Reveals The World's Biggest Spenders: Tourists Who Splash The Cash
Released
on: February 19, 2010, 5:13 am
Author: Skyscanner Ltd
Industry: Travel
Flight comparison site Skyscanner investigates which countries
like to flash their cash the most when they travel – the Germans are in
the lead, but China is hot on their trail.
With the world economy apparently on the road to recovery, tourism will play a huge
part in many countries’ income and competition is high to capture the biggest share
of that market. International tourism is on track for a rebound with growth of 3-4%
projected for 2010 – a welcome recovery after 2009’s slump.
But when it comes to international travels, who spends the most and where should
travel and tourism organisations be targeting their marketing budgets to attract the
big spenders?
At number one, it’s the Germans who spend over $90 billion a year on their travels,
a disproportionate amount compared to their population which numbers just over 80
million, less than a third of the next biggest spenders – the USA, who splash $79.7
billion a year on holidays. Known for tipping big in restaurant and bars, Americans
certainly know how to spend.
In third place it’s the UK who splurge $68.5 billion to escape the UK on cheap flights each year. No doubt the lure of
sun and sand plays a huge part in the mass exodus, with Spain by far our favourite
holiday escape. This is also backed up by recent Skyscanner stats, with cheap
flights to Malaga topping the most popular searched in January.
France, which is also the world’s most popular country in terms of tourist arrivals,
empty their wallets of $42.1 per year, whilst the Chinese spend $36.2 billion
annually on their travels.
China is part of a new force of international tourists. The country’s huge economic
boom over the last decade has created a new middle class and with travel
restrictions now a distant memory, more and more Chinese are taking advantage of
their new found wealth and travelling the world – normally in tour groups.
Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia and the Netherlands made up the rest of the ten big
spenders list.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and business director commented:
“It will be very interesting to see how tourist spending changes since the downturn.
So far, the latest figures show that only the Japanese spent less on international
tourism than the previous year. China is fast rising, spending 21% more on their
global travels, and are likely set to grow even more. Meanwhile, it’s the Germans
who remain the world’s biggest spending tourists, and there would have to be
significant change for anyone else to catch up with them.”
1. Germany - $91.0 billion (+2%)
2. USA – $79.7 billion (+4.4%)
3. UK – $68.5 billion (+4.4%)
4. France – $43.1 billion (+9.6%)
5. China – $36.2 billion (+21.4%)
6. Italy – $30.8 billion (+4.9%)
7. Japan – $27.9 billion (-7.9%)
8. Canada – $26.9 billion (+8.4%)
9. Russia – $24.9 billion (+11.8%)
10. Netherlands – $21.7 billion (+9.2%)
About Skyscanner:
Skyscanner is a leading travel search site based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Skyscanner
provides instant online comparison on flight prices, including flights
to London for over 670,000 routes on over 600 airlines, as well as car hire,
hotel and holiday price comparison.
With Skyscanner, users can browse without having to enter specific dates or even
destinations, and Skyscanner is available in 20 different languages including
French, German and Spanish.
Amount spent on international tourism in USD (latest figures 2008), according to The
World Tourism Organisation (http://www.unwto.org/facts/menu.html)
Contact Details: Lara Bayley
Skyscanner Ltd
Stamp Office
10 Waterloo Place
Edinburgh EH1 3EG
lara@skyscanner.net
+44 (0)131 252 5353
2012
