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Tea and crafts top souvenir list

By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-11 10:10

Chinese tea, arts, craft and clothing are the most popular souvenirs for tourists intending to visit China, according to a survey on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and travel in China, commissioned by Visa International.

Of the 3,140 respondents from across the Asia Pacific region who said they were likely to visit China during or after the Olympic Games, one-third said that Chinese tea would be the souvenir they were most likely to take home. The second most popular choice was Chinese arts and craft, followed by clothing.

"China not only offers interesting attractions to visitors, it also promises tourists a one-of-a-kind shopping experience. With all the visitors expected during the upcoming Olympic Games, we may see a shopping spree of Olympic-sized proportions in China this August," said Richard Chang, executive vice president and general manager of Visa China.

A newly opened handicraft shop in Beijing.

According to the survey, women are more likely to buy Chinese silk with 26 percent of women questioned saying they had an interest in the material as opposed to 19 percent of men surveyed.

Twenty percent of men questioned said they were more likely to buy electronic products, compared to 15 percent of women.

The survey also found that younger travelers aged between 18 and 24 were more interested than older travelers in buying both traditional and modern Chinese memorabilia and were interested in both antiques and electronics.

Sixty-two percent of visitors from Hong Kong said they were most interested in buying local food products, while Australians, New Zealanders and Singaporeans said they were more likely to opt for buying clothing in China.

The survey revealed that 36 percent of the Japanese questioned and 49 percent of Koreans placed Chinese tea on the top of their lists.

Sixty-three percent of Malaysians said silk would be their souvenir of choice, while 46 percent of Taiwanese and 60 percent of Indians said they would chose electrical products.

Tourists who had visited China before said they were more likely to buy local food products than those who were coming to China for the first time. 17 percent of returnees said they were interested in buying Olympic Games souvenirs, compared with 11 percent of people who had never visited China before.

First-time visitors to China are more likely than repeat visitors to spend their money on clothing (30 percent as opposed to 20 percent), antiques (23 percent as opposed to 13 percent) and electronic products (23 percent as opposed to six percent).

Fifty percent of all those who had not yet traveled to China said they expected electronic payment cards to be generally accepted at some but not all merchants in China.

"A reliable and international-standard electronic payment infrastructure is a fundamental need to ensure that visitors to China - before, during and after the Games - can purchase their souvenirs from China using the same payment facilities they are used to at home, " Chang adds.

To meet demand, a special team of central bank officials is now offering safe and convenient accounting and non-cash payment services for overseas individuals and institutions.

Large companies are also strengthening their efforts to boost the use of foreign-currency credit cards.

For its part, Olympic sponsor Visa has made installing more ATMs in tourist areas a primary task for 2007 and 2008.

"Major sightseeing, shopping and dining sites for foreigners are our key focuses," said Li Sheng, Visa Asia-Pacific's vice-president and head of marketing for China.

Visa added 90,000 ATMs to provide better cash access for those attending the Games, as well as expanding the number of merchants that accept Visa-branded payment cards to a network of 210,000. The company has also launched marketing campaigns targeting banks, shops and cardholders. It has created an Olympic-branded card with the Bank of China and plans to have themed sales in shops.

"Our goal is simple: We want to help visitors to China, many of whom will be first-time guests, experience more of Beijing than just the Games," said Li.