The Chinese tourists flocking to Japan are swiping their UnionPay cards at retail outlets more than ever thanks to the weak yen.
Spending with those cards surpassed 360 billion yen ($2.92 billion) for the first six months of this year, tripling the amount from the year-ago period and trouncing the 280 billion yen spent for all of 2014. With the weakening yen making a trip to Japan more attractive, the number of Chinese visitors from January through May doubled from a year earlier. Luxury brand items and makeup have been among the popular products snapped up.
The card is administered by the China UnionPay bankcard association, which is jointly financed by major Chinese banks. About 380,000 stores in Japan accept the UnionPay card, which can act like a credit or debit card.
More items such as consumables were added to the tax-free list in October, and Chinese tourists are using their cards to buy them, especially products that have relatively high unit prices.
Shoppers spent an average of about 35,000 yen on each trip to the register in the January-June period. Department stores saw an average of about 50,000 yen, compared with around 40,000 yen at consumer electronics stores and roughly 20,000 yen at drugstores.
Chinese tourists helped boost June sales at five major Japanese department stores above their year-ago figures. Tax-free items made up over one-quarter of June sales at Mitsukoshi's Ginza store. Around 80% of customers visiting Laox's tax-free shops hail from Greater China. Tax-free sales at those stores nearly tripled in the January-March period.
Normally, more UnionPay money is spent in Japan during the Lunar New Year holiday or the cherry blossom season. As hotel vacancies dwindle due to the rise in tourists, travel times are becoming more diversified. Tourists are expected to continue spending about 70 billion yen a month, reaching roughly 800 billion yen for 2015.
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