Chinese Become World's Biggest Tourism Spenders

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists have overtaken their German counterparts to become the highest holiday spenders in the world. In 2011, the German tourists led the pack, splasing out $85.9 billion in tourism expenditure.

During the same year, Chinese holidaymakers spent 72.6 billion, a figure that increased dramatically in 2012 when 83 million mainland Chinese spent a whopping $102 billion. The United States rounds off the top three countries – American tourists spent $83.5 billion in 2012.

The United Kingdom and Russian Federation complete the top five. British and Russian tourists spent $52.3 and $42.8 billion respectively in 2012. In Russia’s case, this represents an increase of almost $10 billion in comparison with 2011