Luxury-goods consumption in China will see a 20-percent growth rate this year, remaining broadly at par with that of last year, an HSBC analyst predicted recently.

Erwan Rambourg, HSBC's Head of Consumer & Retail Research and luxury and sporting goods analyst, said on Tuesday that Chinese consumers' craving for high-end goods will continue and the market will grow at a rate higher than GDP growth in the next few years.

Chinese tourists have started turning their attention from Europe to Asia as the destination for high-end goods consumption, the major purpose of overseas travel for Chinese tourists, and Asia (excluding Chinese mainland and Japan) will contribute to half of the world's luxury sales this year, especially Hong Kong and Macao SARs, Erwan Rambourg said.

An industrial report by HSBC earlier pointed out that mainland tourists currently contribute 75 percent of luxury sales in Macao and 60 percent in Hong Kong. And in the next five years, mainland travelers to Hong Kong, Macao, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore will continue to surge and promote local sales of high-end goods.

There's still room for further advances in luxury shopping although opulent fashion shopping districts already exist in Hong Kong. A prominent example is the West Kowloon area. After the neighboring transportation system is improved, it will be overflowing with mainland tourists.

At the same time, the boom of the luxury market in Asia without Japan and the Chinese mainland is also being driven by Chinese mainland tourists with a 15 percent year-on-year rise this year, whereas the number for Europe, Japan and the US is 6 percent, 1 percent and 9 percent respectively. The growth rate for global luxury-goods sales is expected to be 10 percent this year.