Chinese retake mantle of world's biggest tourism spenders

The U.S., which had dethroned China in 2022, was pushed back into second position with $150 billion.

Germany was third ($112 billion), followed by the U.K. ($110 billion) and France ($49 billion).

Canada, Italy, India, Russia, and South Korea rounded off the top 10.

France remained the world’s most visited destination in 2023 with 100 million international arrivals, followed by Spain and the U.S.

In 2019, the year before Covid-19 broke out, Chinese travelers spent almost $248 billion overseas, or 14% of global tourism spending, according to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Chinese tourists were the biggest source market for most Southeast Asian countries.

Then China closed its borders for nearly three years due to the pandemic.

Since China reopened its borders early last year Asian countries have been rushing to waive visas to attract its big-spending tourists.