China’s Consumer Market Sees Robust Growth

By Lily Wang

January 27 was the last day before the 2023 Spring Festival， which was the first long holiday since China entered a phase of pandemic control and prevention. Chinas consumer market witnessed booming growth during the holiday.

Promote regional economic growth

According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism， 308 million domestic trips were made during the Spring Festival holiday in 2023， up by 23.1% year on year. The revenue of domestic tourism hit RMB 375.8 billion， up by 30% from the same period last year. According to a report issued by Ctrip on January 27， the tourism market saw the best performance of the last three years， with tourism orders rising 4 times compared to the previous year. On top of that， Chinas box office revenue for the Spring Festival holiday reached RMB 6.76 billion， the second best annual performance in history. According to a UN report on January 25， the Chinese economy is expected to grow 4.8% this year， and will promote economic growth of the whole region.

According to the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism， 308 million domestic trips were made during Spring Festival holiday in 2023， up by 23.1% year on year， recovering to 88.6% of the same period in 2019. The revenue of domestic tourism hit RMB 375.8 billion， up by 30% from the same period last year， recovering to 73.1% of the same period in 2019. A total of about 110，000 cultural activities were held around the country， with the participating audience of about 473 million. Estimates show that during the Spring Festival holiday， a total of 9，400 commercial performances were carried out， up by 40.92% from 2022 and up by 22.5% from 2019. According to information released by the National Immigration Administration， between January 21 and January 26， about 2.392 million people entered and exited the national border， up by 123.9% from last spring festival. A total of 1.2 million people entered the country， up by 127.2%， and 1.192 million people exited the country， up by 120.7%.

Industry data showed that after the optimization and adjustment of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures， more people traveled during the Spring Festival holiday， and Chinas tourism recovered to pre-pandemic levels. According to the 2023 Spring Festival Tourism Summary Report released by Ctrip， the overall number of tourism orders during the Spring Festival increased four times compared with last year. Among them， the ticket booking volume of major scenic spots in China surged 3.2 times year on year； tickets for overseas scenic spots increased by more than 60% year on year. In addition to the first-tier big cities， Xian， Suzhou， Yangzhou， Luoyang， Kaifeng and other cities with rich cultural and tourism resources have seen a huge number of travelers. With high volume of ticket bookings， these cities ranked into top ten popular tourism cities. The number of orders for outbound travel increased by 640% year on year， and both the hotel and air ticket booking orders made by Chinese passengers increased by more than four times year on year. Bangkok， Singapore， Kuala Lumpur， Chiang Mai， Manila and Bali have become the most popular international travel destinations for Chinese tourists. According to Ctrip， the volume of orders for tickets to Bali increased by 30 times year-on-year， and orders for tickets to Singapore increased more than 8 times.

The boom of returning home and travelling after the Spring Festival has driven the rapid growth of consumption in different places. According to 2023 Spring Festival consumption data released by Meituan on January 27， the life service industry saw good performance at the start of the year. During the first six days of Spring Festival holiday， average daily consumption increased by 66% compared with that of 2019， and the consumption scale of Beijing，Shanghai， Chengdu， Chongqing and Guangzhou ranked among the top in the country. The consumption in different places increased by 76% compared with the same period last year， having the same trend of growth as the local consumption. These two types of consumption have become the dual engines promoting economic recovery. According to the 2023 Spring Festival Holiday Consumption Trend released by JD on the same day， with the home delivery services staying available in more and more cities， the consumption categories have become increasingly diversified during the Spring Festival， and the consumption tends to be more normalized as nonholiday seasons. The sales of mobile phones， home appliances and medical care products have been increasing. According to Spring Festival consumption data released by Ele.me， consumers are pursuing more quality products during the Spring Festival shopping. Imported cherry and white liquor have become the most popular and best-selling product categories of the year.

Boost the confidence of tourism operators

“Chinese tourists are large in numbers and have strong consumption power. This will help create more jobs for the tourism service industries including hotel and restaurants，”Xu Zhichao， Vice President of the Philippine Youli Oriental Travel Agency， said. Xu also said， “the Philippines tourism industry has seen recovery after three years. Our team have become busier with booking tickets， hotels and arranging for group travel for tourists. I believe that cultural exchange and tourism cooperation between China and the Philippines will have a bright future.”

“We sincerely welcome Chinese tourists to visit Athens，” Sipilos Bellaktaris， a restaurant owner from Greece， said with confidence referencing the future. Working staff at the Maldives local travel agencies said that they were pleased to see the return of Chinese tourists， which is good news for the travel agencies and the whole country.

Gabriella Esselbrugge， founder of Giethoorn Hospitality Agritourism and image ambassador of the Netherlands Tourism Bureau， said that Chinese tourists returning to the Netherlands will help promote the recovery of the countrys tourism industry. Nowadays， as a popular scenic spot in the Netherlands， Giethoorn Hospitality Agritourism has been receiving more orders from Chinese tour groups. It is expected that the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Netherlands for independent and business travel will keep growing. The tourism industry of the Netherlands will benefit from this.

During the Spring Festival holiday， many Chinese tourists visited Boracay， Bohol and other tourist destinations of the Philippines. Local hotels and restaurants were crowed with tourists， just like before the pandemic. Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said that the arrival of Chinese tourists“signals a very auspicious start” to the Chinese New Year and will promote the recovery of the Philippine tourism industry. “We appreciate it that China has identified the Philippines as one of the first batches of countries where Chinese group tours are allowed to resume. The Philippines is open and ready to welcome our friends from China.”

The Greek tourism minister Vasilis Kikilias also sent festival greetings to the Chinese people. As the pillar of the economy， the tourism industry has accounted for 25% of Greeces national GDP. Vasilis Kikilias said that the Greek tourism industry wishes to continue recovering in 2023， which requires further development of the Chinese market and attraction of more Chinese tourists. “I sincerely welcome more Chinese tourists to Greece.”

On the day before Chinese New Years Eve， the first Chinese tourist group arrived at Cairo International Airport， after China had optimized and adjusted pandemic prevention and control policies. Engineer Yehia Zakaria， Chairman of Egyptair and special representative of the Egypt Civil Aviation Department， said that both Egypt and China are great historical civilizations， during a talk at the welcoming ceremony. Egypt is hoping to see more and more Chinese tourists visiting the tourist destinations of Egypt.

Miguel Sanz Castedo， director of the Spanish National Tourism Authority， said that Chinas optimization of outbound travel policies will promote the recovery of the global tourism market. Spain is expecting the visits of more Chinese tourists.

Jens Hildebrandt， Board Member of German Chamber of Commerce in China， said that “the optimism is coming back”. According to a recent survey conducted by the German Chamber of Commerce in China， about half of German corporations expressed their willingness to invest more in China， and about 80% of German corporations felt optimistic about the prospect of the Chinese market. Jens Hildebrandt said，“although everybody is sensitive to risks， China is still one of the worlds largest markets. Nobody wants to the leave the market to their business rivals.”