Shopping frenzy

For those who are seriously considering piracy as a career, plundering sightseeing buses filled with Chinese tourists and their luxury souvenirs may be the next best thing since pillaging on the high seas just isn't as promising these days.

Kidding, of course, but you get the point. With the growing buying power of China's newly rich, Chinese tour groups are hitting up the US, Japan, Singapore, Dubai and especially Europe to purchase any and all luxury goods.

Many foreigners are familiar with this scene - crazy, rich Chinese ladies pour out of tourist buses and into luxury stores, cleaning out shops in 15 minutes flat.

As Christmas sales have been gone for weeks, and the Chinese New Year is just around the corner, the rich and restless Chinese tourists are once again gearing up to buy out Europe during their Spring Festival megalomaniac attack.

Destination shopping

This month, travel agencies have launched all kinds of shopping-focused travel itineraries, all involving the hottest shopping destinations.

Besides the traditional favorite shop-till-you-drop spots of the US, the UK, France, Switzerland and so on, islands including Saipan, Guam, Cheju Island and Dubai have been gaining popularity. It's all about the warm weather and duty-free stores, said Zhang Qingzhu, marketing manager at China Comfort Travel.

"Our itineraries during the holiday have been booked up, or even overbooked," said Bao Zhennan, marketing officer at Century Tours, a domestic travel agency.

To cool the heat off, Century Tours agents actually recommend avoiding the peak travel months of January and February, and they have been promoting their trips for March instead.

The impact of Chinese spending abroad now makes Chinese consumers the top spenders in luxury worldwide, taking up a fourth of luxury purchases globally, according to a report in December 2012 by Bain & Company, a professional advisor in the global luxury goods industry.

The report also reveals that in 2012, while luxury spending in China experienced a slightly slower growth rate, it grew by 37 percent abroad. About 60 percent of Chinese consumers' luxury purchases have been made abroad.

This trend of purchasing abroad may be the result of price gaps and exchange rates.

There has always been a gap between the domestic price of an item and its price abroad. Not to mention the prices in China's market keep rising, such as with the recent price hike on many luxury makeup brands, including Dior, Chanel and SK-II, which makes more Chinese want to buy abroad to narrow the gap.

"US dollars and euros are getting cheaper - that's one main reason," said Zhang.

The duty-free shops, tax refund policies, holiday discounts, exchange rates and brand name stores with much lower prices than those in China are all luring the Chinese tourists into buying more.