Global Blue: Positive growth in tax free shopping

According to Global Blue data, in Asia Pacific¹, the issued Sales in Store growth reached +30%in November 2024, in line with October 2024 (+29%), led by a +31% increase in the number of shoppers and a -1% decrease in the average spend per shopper.

When examining origin markets¹, the positive momentum in issued Sales in Store growth continued across most nationalities. Mainland Chinese Tax Free Spend led with a +54% increase, driven by a +84% rise in the number of shoppers. Hong Kong and Taiwan Tax Free Spend experienced a rise of +9% vs. last year while North East Asia Tax Free Spend softened by -4% vs. last year. Regarding destination markets¹, November showed a strong performance across destinations, with South Korea at +48%, Japan at +34%, and Singapore at +8%.