Japanese Travellers Cut Back, Kiwis Spend Big

30 June, 2009 by Martin Kelly | 2 comments

New Zealand travellers spend the most, Korean tourists prefer payment cards to cash, and 18% of Australians reckon you can't beat a money belt for financial security while on the road. These are among the results of a new Visa survey of Asia Pacific travellers. No surprise that the most isolated travellers – Kiwis and Australians – are the biggest spender: they have no choice.

The average Kiwi tourist spent US$5588 on their last overseas trip, slightly more than their Aussie cousins who outlayed US$5258. More telling is the finding that Japanese tourists are now among the tightest travellers with an average spend of US$2141, less than all but two Asia Pacific countries. Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Malays, Taiwanese and Singaporeans all spent more. How times have changed.

Average Amount Spent on Last International Trip

	Amount (US$)
New Zealand	5,588
Australia	5,258
India	3,732
China	3,249
Korea	2,945
Malaysia	2,653
Taiwan	2,435
Singapore	2,332
Japan	2,141
Hong Kong	2,123
Thailand	1,850
Survey Average	3,107

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SnowSphere Magazine on 7 July, 2009 at 11:40 pm

I would like to see the data for this… I would hazard a guess that the reason that Japanese spend less, is because they tend to make much shorter trips.

Travelling overseas for just a few days is quite normal. Eg going to Australia for a long weekend (a 10 hour flight) is not uncommon.

Was trip length accounted for in this study?
1. Martin Kelly on 8 July, 2009 at 9:52 am
  
  Length of trip wasn't mentioned though I think you are right regarding Japanese and short trips. But I have no doubt they would have been on top of the spending pile a few years ago. They had a reputation as very big spenders here in Oz.