China new year travel spending beat pre-COVID levels
STORY: The massive crowds in Shanghai Railway Station ahead of this year’s Spring Festival holiday speak to what Chinese officials said on Sunday ended UP being a surge in travel spending over the Lunar New Year to levels even higher than before COVID.
It’s likely a welcome sign for Beijing as the Chinese economy loses steam.
The holiday is the busiest yearly travel migration in the world and by the end of the eight-day span on Saturday, 474 million tourist trips were made, up 34% from the same time a year ago.
Millions of migrants have since returned to major cities like Shanghai or Beijing after reuniting with family in hometowns.
“It was really crowded this year. It felt like it was the first time for me to experience the Spring festival travel rush thoroughly.”
Chinese officials say not only was tourism spending up by around 50% over 2023,
It was up 7% over this time in 2019, before the pandemic.
Revenue per trip though, has remained below pre-COVID levels.
One of the most popular activities during this year’s holiday was watching films: China’s box office revenue exceeded over a billion dollars over the eight days, a new record high.
The figures are likely a relief for policymakers as China grapples with multiple challenges including a plunging stock market and declining property values and as consumer prices fell furthest since the 2009 recession last month.
It’s pushing authorities to cut interest rates in an attempt to spark growth and revive an economy low on confidence and facing spiralling deflation.
