China’s Golden Week got off to a promising start as tourist trips and revenue jumped through the start of the holiday, suggesting some resilience in consumer appetites.
Tourism revenue reached 342.24 billion yuan ($46.9 billion) in the three days leading up to the mid-autumn festival and National Day celebrations, state media CCTV reported, citing data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. That’s a spike of 125% from the prior year. Domestic tourist trips reached 395 million, a 76% year-on-year increase.
The first few days of transportation data “shows decent demand so far,” wrote economists at Citigroup Inc., referencing railway and airline data from the transport ministry.
The early data suggest a solid bounce-back for demand compared to 2022, when the country was still largely contending with some of the world’s strictest pandemic controls. It’s also welcome news for the economy, which is working through a fragile and uncertain recovery, and likely needs more policy support to revive business confidence and spending.
With a property crisis continuing to weigh on the country’s prospects, developers are looking to see if the eight-day holiday sparks a revival for the market in what’s typically a busy season for them. Home sales moderated their decline in September following stepped-up efforts to support the housing sector.
Other areas are also showing encouraging signs on demand. Auto deliveries by local manufacturers have increased, and CCTV reported that sales at China’s major retailers and restaurants rose 8.3% in the first three days of the holiday from the comparable period in 2022. Hotel and tourism orders at key online platforms rose more than 20%, according to the broadcaster.
(Updates to add economist quote in third paragraph.)
