CHINA: Chinese Tourists’ Lunar New Year Swag: Toilet Seats Are Out, Condoms Are In

Hello Kitty toilet seats? So 2015

When traveling abroad for the Lunar New Year, Chinese tourists in recent years have been known to stock their suitcases with advanced toilet seats, rice cookers and other goodies from overseas. This year, it seems they’ve eschewed their previous favorites for more germane items, including tissue paper, nail polish, electric toothbrushes and condoms.

Six million Chinese tourists traveled abroad during this year’s weeklong holiday, spending a record-setting 90 billion yuan overseas, according to an estimate by the China Tourism Academy and popular travel booking site Ctrip. Many of them traded high-tech toilets for toiletries, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.

And despite the devaluation of the yuan, which has made some brand-name products more expensive, shopping enthusiasm isn’t on the wane. Chinese consumers continued to seek out quality items that, as one shopper purchasing South Korean beauty products told Xinhua, “you can buy with confidence.”