Chinese tourists top spenders in Japan

TOKYO - Chinese tourists have spent an estimated 196.4 billion yen ($2.43 billion) in Japan in 2011, accounting for almost a quarter of the total spending by foreign travelers, and rank as the largest spenders by country, according to data from the Japan Tourism Agency.

Chinese travelers bought relatively expensive products, such as cameras, watches and consumer electronics products, as souvenirs, according to Japanese media.

The data are based on surveys among about 7,000 foreigners at major airports and seaports in Japan once every three months.

Foreign travelers spent a total of 813.5 billion yen in 2011, down nearly 30 percent from 2010, when they spent an estimated 1.15 trillion yen.

Chinese consumers were followed by South Koreans and people from the United States. Travelers from South Korea numbered the largest at 1.66 million and was followed by 1.04 million Chinese.