From record box office earnings to bustling tourist attractions, China's three-day New Year holiday witnessed warming consumer sentiment and got the economy off to a strong start in 2024.
According to e-commerce platform Meituan, the online transaction volume of dine-in restaurants in China surged 230 percent year-on-year during the first two days of the holiday.
Home parties, stove-boiled tea with chatting, live houses, and KTVs are still popular with young people; the orders for these climbed 225 percent year-on-year during the holiday.
Moreover, theme parks including Harbin Ice and Snow World, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Universal Beijing Resort also attracted the young consumer.
Driven by the enthusiasm for winter activities, there was a holiday boom in travel and tourism over the past three days.
The passenger volumes on railways, roads, waterways and airways nationwide totaled nearly 130 million from Dec 30, 2023, to Jan 1, 2024, the Ministry of Transport said on Tuesday. The total revenues of China's tourism market surpassed 79.73 billion yuan ($11.26 billion) in the three days, tripling the total for the holiday season last year and increasing 5.6 percent from 2019, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Various New Year celebration events and pro-consumption measures nationwide prompted the stellar performance of China's tourism economy during the holiday, kicking off 2024 on a positive note, Trip.com's research institute said.
Foreign tourists also contributed to the Chinese holiday market heat. On Dec 31, about 140 foreign tourists arrived in Shanghai to become the city's first foreign tourist group of the New Year holiday.
The holiday consumer market demonstrated a sustained recovery as the tourism, catering and entertainment sectors showed strong growth momentum, said Hong Yong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.
As the Chinese economy navigates the post-pandemic recovery landscape, consumption has emerged as a powerful growth driver. Consumer spending accounted for 83.2 percent of economic growth in the first three quarters of 2023.
The government has stepped up efforts to bolster the consumer market and more measures are in the pipeline.
