Chinese visitors surge 23% in January

It may be because of new year festivities.

According to Barclays, January visitor arrivals from China were strong at +23% y/y, much stronger than 4Q13 that saw just +11% y/y growth.

It views Chinese New Year timing again as a potential reason.

Here’s more from Barclays:

With the earlier Chinese New Year timing this year, we believe this might have frontloaded more shopping into January this year, as the peak shopping period usually lasts from December discounting season till Chinese New Year.

During January, same-day visitors saw +23% y/y growth, overnight visitors also saw +24% y/y growth.