Global Blue: Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur are Asia's top shopping destinations

A total of 87 per cent of visitors to Hong Kong in 2011 engaged in shopping, accounting for 60 per cent of all tourism outlay.

This means that every visitor spent around HK$500 on shopping. The fastest growing group of visitors are mainland Chinese, who tend to shop in Hong Kong to avoid substantial sales tax back home, the survey said.

The survey measured 25 Asia-Pacific countries with a GDP at PPP (purchasing power parity) of more than €50 billion (US$64.6 billion). Other factors considered included the number of visitors to the country and geographic diversity. The countries were then measured in the following categories: shops, affordability, convenience, culture and climate, and hotels and transport.

“Hong Kong ranks highly across most indicators, not least for convenience,” the survey said. Noting the drawbacks, the study added that hotels are expensive and difficult to find due to high occupancy rates.

Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing came in second, third and fourth, respectively. Singapore took the fifth spot followed by Sydney, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul and Delhi. Dhaka, Karachi and Yangon are at the bottom of the list. 

Kuala Lumpur scored high for its low prices and range of products and malls. Government intervention has played a major role in putting Kuala Lumpur on the map. Since 2000, the Ministry of Tourism started the Malaysian mega sales, in which shops were encouraged to hold simultaneous sales to lure travellers to visit the country. Tourist spending on retail has grown from 23 per cent to 32 per cent, contributing US$6 billion to Malaysia’s economy.

Seventh-ranked Thailand has also been using tourism strategies and advertising campaigns to increase retail spending. A case in point is the ‘Amazing Thailand’ campaign, which positioned Thailand as a shopping paradise with the two-month ‘Amazing Thailand Grand sale’.

China, with Shanghai and Beijing ranked third and fourth, saw a 16 per cent increase in total spending by tourists in 2011. Conversely, Chinese outbound travel has also quadrupled in the last decade. In fact, the survey shows Chinese travellers spend a whopping 70 to 80 per cent of their expenditure on shopping. Astonishingly, 62 per cent of all luxury goods sold in Europe in 2011 were purchased by Chinese visitors.

The study was conducted together with the Economist Intelligence Unit, the in-house research unit for the Economist Group. Global Blue released its first shopper index last year, which focused on Europe.