Time is gold: Tourists go gaga over luxury watches in Singapore

Chinese shoppers spend an average of $10,481 on luxury watches and jewelry.

According to Global Blue Barometer, Singapore is a hot destination for luxury watches and fashion. The most popular items that tourists zoom in upon when shopping in Singapore are luxury watches&jewellery and fashion, owing to the strong presence of high-end luxury and fashion brands here.

Here's more from Global Blue Barometer:

At least 63% of all tax-free shopping during first half of the year is spent on two categories – watches & jewellery (36%), and fashion &clothing (27%).

For Chinese shoppers, many of them flock to Singapore to spend on watches &jewellery, forking out a good S$10,481 per. A single Chinese tourist can buy up to 20 branded bags at one shop based on a shopping list of requests from people back home.

Other factors include a strong Yuan, high tariffs on luxury goods in China and the fear of counterfeit goods at home. Similar preference is also seen amongst Indonesian globe shoppers who spend hefty amounts on watches and jewellery with an average of S$ 9, 511 per traveller.

Global Blue Barometer is the quarterly newsletter of Global Blue featuring international travellers’ shopping behaviours in Singapore and interesting insights on who the big spenders are and how much they’re spending.