Page 12 - HOSPITAAL

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 29 November 2018

Suddenly, luxury stores miss free-spending Chinese tourists

By MICHELLE CHAP- which is why shares of earned dollars. They do
MAN AND ANNE Ralph Lauren and Movado have the option to buy in
D’INNOCENZIO, AP Busi- also fell on Wednesday, mainland China.”
ness Writers even as the broader stock While the number of peo-
NEW YORK (AP) — There market climbed sharply. ple visiting the U.S. from
was something missing at Tiffany’s third-quarter rev- China grew 4 percent in
the luxury jeweler Tiffany & enue rose 4 percent to just 2017, according to the U.S.
Co. in recent months: Chi- above $1 billion, yet indus- National Travel and Tour-
nese tourists. try analysts were anticipat- ism Office, that was down
For the second time in as ing a bigger boost. Part of sharply from the 16 per-
many months, a big seller the reason for the surprise cent jump in 2016. It’s not
of high-end goods noticed was fewer tourists, particu- a healthy trend for sellers of
that a particularly crucial larly Chinese tourists, at high-end goods. Burke esti-
demographic of its shop- stores in places like New mates that as much 30 per-
ping base had made itself York and Hong Kong. cent of luxury goods sales
sparse, damaging sales “We don’t see a slowdown globally are made to tour-
and stoking fears of worse In this Monday, May 22, 2017, photo, a gift box from Tiffany & of demand by the Chinese. ists from China. Dan Jas-
to come. Co. is arranged for a photo in Surfside, Fla. Tiffany & Co. What we see is that Chinese per, a spokesman at Mall
On Wednesday, shares of Associated Press. tourists are traveling less,” of America’s, the nation’s
Tiffany & Co. plunged 12 have failed to show up, same phenomenon of said Bogliolo in a phone in- largest shopping mall, not-
percent after reporting and open wallets up, with dwindling Chinese tourists. terview Wednesday. ed that Chinese tourists
weaker-than-expected the same vigor that they Shares in that company In fact, Bogliolo said that tend to be more likely to
sales in its third quarter. had in the past. were hit hard as well. Tiffany’s business in main- purchase higher end items
CEO Alessandro Bogliolo Last month, the owner of Tiffany is considered a bell- land China remains strong, including luxury cosmetics,
said that Chinese tourists Louis Vuitton noted the wether for luxury goods, achieving double digit jewelry, clothing and elec-
sales growth throughout tronics. He said that the
the year. In response to the number of Chinese tourists
shift, Tiffany’s is increasing to the center continues to
its inventory at its stores in grow at a “modest rate.”
Mainland China so it’s not What may have exacer-
missing out on any sales. bated fears Wednesday
Bogliolo speculated that is that prevailing wisdom
the deteriorating value has held that consumer
of China’s currency is to spending from China in
blame for the drop in Chi- the high-end luxury shops
nese tourists. of the West would not only
The yuan, also known as continue, but that it would
the renminbi, or “people’s grow stronger.
money,” sank to a 10-year In a study published this
low against the dollar at the month, the Bain consultan-
end of October. It strength- cy said that Chinese con-
ened slightly this month, sumers will fuel nearly half
leading many to believe of global high-end sales by
that Beijing has stepped in 2025.
to stop its slide. Chinese shoppers will ac-
But others see broader is- count for 46 percent of
sues at play, including a global luxury sales of an es-
simmering trade war and timated $412 billion in just
the potential for a slow- six years, Bain said in the
ing global economy that study, which was prepared
is squeezing even the for Italy’s Altagamma as-
wealthy in China. sociation of high-end pro-
“There are major strains in ducers.
our political relationship Even before the Trump
with the Chinese govern- administration ratcheted
ment,” said Robert Burke, up the intensity of its trade
a luxury consultant in New dialogue with Beijing, there
York. “It doesn’t put them were signs that econom-
in the mood to come to ic growth in China was
the U.S. to spend their hard slowing.q