China lone bright spot in gloomy luxury market

China's luxury market has flourished while the global luxury sector has seen its largest ever fall in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a global management consultancy.

The Chinese mainland has been the only region globally to end the year on a positive note, with sales rising 45 percent to 44 billion euros (US$52 billion), Bain & Company said in a report released on Wednesday.

The luxury goods industry has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Despite the strong performance of China, the consulting firm estimates that the core personal luxury goods market is set to contract by 23 percent to 217 billion euros, marking the largest drop recorded since 2009.

"We have all experienced a difficult year of rapid, unexpected changes and luxury has not emerged unscathed," Claudia D'Arpizio, a Bain & Company partner and lead author of the study.

"While the industry has suffered from a pause in global travel and ongoing lockdowns, we believe it has the necessary resilience to manage through the crisis," she added.

The company expects the recovery to gather pace over the next three years, with the market returning to 2019 levels by 2022 to 2023.