Global Blue data +32% in July
July’s Global Blue data recorded a strong +31.9% y/y increase in global tourism spending with Chinese tourism showing another impressive +73.6% while Russian spending further declined -32.4% and we estimate the other nationalities saw +c23%. Europe increased 27.5% (vs. June +42.6%) driven by Chinese spending, which suggests that the positive trends seen in H1 have continued. A highlight of the Q2 results was the very robust performance in Europe that was the main driver of growth for the sector with tourism a key factor. We expect this to continue to be a theme in H2. This strong global spend has more than offset a large decline in Hong Kong/Macau as well as limited growth in the mainland. Louis Vuitton commented that the overall Chinese consumer globally was up ‘slightly above 10% in H1’ with Q2 up low double digits. Burberry also commented that sales to Chinese globally were up low to mid single digit in like for like growth despite under-representation in Japan.