Taiwan is the Ultimate Christmas Shopping Destination

Hotels.com today reveals that Taiwan is the destination offering the greatest value for bargain hunters this Christmas, as it tops the list of destinations where consumers can get the best value for money for their gifts. The Hotels.com Christmas Shopping Basket looks at the price of 13 of the most popular – globally available – presents across 29 countries, to produce a consumer spending index, with potential gifts ranging from iPads to Barbie’s Dreamhouse.

Taiwan was found, on average, to be the best value destination for Christmas shopping with a combined shopping basket of HKD11,369.15, followed by Japan (HKD15,990.41) and Argentina (HKD16,051.97) in second and third place.

Brazil was the country with the most expensive shopping basket at HKD36,995.92, over HKD14,000 more than the global average of HKD22,678.53.

The Hotels.com Christmas Shopping Basket consists of:

• iPad Air
• iPad with retina display
• Ladies real leather gloves
• Jean Paul Gaultier ‘Le Male’ Eau de Toilette 75ml
• Calvin Klein socks
• iPhone 5S
• Chloe by Chloe Perfume 75ml
• Spiderman lunch box
• Susan Boyle Home for Christmas album
• Barbie Dreamhouse
• How I Met Your Mother season 7
• Levis 501s (men’s straight leg jeans)
• Harry Potter box set (all books)

 Alison Couper of the Hotels.com brand said, “Christmas shopping always seems to be more alluring when done abroad and what’s better than combining gift buying with a holiday! Our shopping basket is a great way for consumers to find the best places to pick up Christmas bargains.”
  
The total costs per country for the entirety of the Hotels.com Christmas shopping basket:

Rank	Country	Average price of basket (HKD)
1	Taiwan	11,369.15
2	Japan	15,990.41
3	Argentina	16,051.97
4	Korea	16,192.84
5	Thailand	16,595.92
6	Switzerland	17,478.36
7	Hong Kong	19,746.97
8	Canada	20,430.01
9	India	20,966.05
10	Singapore	21,256.79
11	Russia	21,288.96
12	Sweden	21,497.60
13	USA	21,730.88
14	Australia	22,467.65
15	Colombia	22,611.55
16	The Netherlands	23,557.80
17	China	23,715.88
18	France	24,225.49
19	Ireland	24,328.29
20	New Zealand	24,483.20
21	Spain	24,963.42
22	UK	25,021.41
23	Germany	25,198.26
24	Mexico	25,465.66
25	Denmark	26,864.07
26	Italy	28,182.39
27	Finland	29,189.35
28	Norway	29,811.06
29	Brazil	36,995.92

* Gift prices calculated as the average cost from three local retailers in each country, then converted to HKD – apart from items with one global figure (iPad and iPad with retina display).