Chinese tea, arts, clothing are China's most popular souvenirs

New Delhi, July 13 : Chinese tea, arts, craft and clothing are the most popular items which tourists visiting China take away as souvenirs, says a new survey.

The findings of the survey on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and travel in China, commissioned by Visa International, are based on the responses of 3,140 respondents from across the Asia Pacific region.

The respondents said that they were likely to visit China during or after the Olympic Games, one-third said that Chinese tea would be the souvenir they were most likely to take home.

The second most popular choice was Chinese arts and craft, followed by clothing.

"China not only offers interesting attractions to visitors, it also promises tourists a one-of-a-kind shopping experience. With all the visitors expected during the upcoming Olympic Games, we may see a shopping spree of Olympic-sized proportions in China this August," Xinhua quoted Richard Chang, executive vice president and general manager of Visa China, as saying.

According to the survey, women are more likely to buy Chinese silk with 26 percent of women questioned saying they had an interest in the material as opposed to 19 percent of men surveyed.

Twenty percent of men questioned said they were more likely to buy electronic products, compared to 15 percent of women.

The survey also found that younger travelers aged between 18 and 24 were more interested than older travelers in buying both traditional and modern Chinese memorabilia and were interested in both antiques and electronics.

Sixty-two percent of visitors from Hong Kong said they were most interested in buying local food products, while Australians, New Zealanders and Singaporeans said they were more likely to opt for buying clothing in China.

The survey revealed that 36 percent of the Japanese questioned and 49 percent of Koreans placed Chinese tea on the top of their lists.

Sixty-three percent of Malaysians said silk would be their souvenir of choice, while 46 percent of Taiwanese and 60 percent of Indians said they would chose electrical products.

ANI