Asia recently experienced its lowest negative duty-free sales growth year-over-year since the beginning of 2016. According to a September report from Global Blue, transactions are up by 25 per cent, but the average total spend is down by 30 per cent. The trend is supposedly due to more Chinese travellers looking for value rather than luxury.

As new Asian air routes become available, in-region travellers to South Korea, Japan and Singapore are increasing. However, the stronger yen in Japan, as well as the 50 per cent drop in the minimum tax-refund spend threshold, caused a decline in average spend. Singapore saw a 55 per cent increase in tourist numbers in the first six months, though many are Chinese budget travellers. However, after the initial six months, tourism dropped due to Zika warnings in the country. Global Blue points to a strong year-over-year travel spend increase in South Korea (44 per cent) as related to last year’s MERS scare, essentially rendering the increase unreliable data.

Overall, Taiwanese travellers are shopping the most, regardless of spend amount, followed by the Chinese. Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations for the beginning of the second half of the year, though South Korea and Thailand are increasing in popularity. Millennial travel in the region continues to grow as well.

“Japan and South Korea have had a good performance this year and for Golden Week, the performance is ever better,” an unnamed travel professional told Global Blue. “Customer capacity has been achieved and although many of them are FIT [Free Independent Travellers] customers, the volume of package tour bookings is still quite big. Japan and Korea will continue to grow for us. The advantage of package tours is that they are cost-effective and convenient, so many travellers still prefer them. If the national policy between Japan and South Korea and China stays the same, trips within Asia will keep growing steadily.”