Chinese tourists spend $85 bln overseas in 2012

Washington Post reported that Chinese tourists spent 85 billion U.S. dollars overseas in 2012. That was about twice the 2012 annual revenue of ExxonMobil, the world's highest grossing company.

National Tourism Administration's data backed this result. It said more than 80 million Chinese travelled overseas last year, leading the global growth by a 15 percent annual jump.

Based on information from the Singapore Tourist Bureau, average spending by Chinese tourists in Singapore tripled in the past ten years -- to 1340 Singapore dollars, or 1080 US dollars in 2011, from just 470 Singapore dollars in 2002.

Kasikorn Research Center, a thinktank in Thailand, said that the average daily spending of Chinese tourists had reached 4600 bahts, or 154 U.S. dollars. It also estimates about 100,000 Chinese people visit Thailand during the Spring Festival, and bring 140 million U.S. dollars revenue to the country.