Special topic: holiday economy | observation on Holiday consumption on May Day

Reporter Xin Yuan

Holiday consumption has always been an important window to observe the popularity of China's economy. The "May Day" holiday just passed, people have a strong desire to travel, the major business circles are very popular, performance venues, cinemas and other leisure and entertainment venues are not reduced. In addition, compared with the first-tier cities represented by Beijing and Shanghai, the attraction of the sinking market has become increasingly prominent.

The official account of the Ministry of Transport on Wechat said on Monday that the cross-regional personnel turnover of the whole society is expected to be about 13 percent from May 1 to 5.Thailandseagames.6 billion person-times, with an average daily average of more than 270 million, an increase of 24.1% over the same period in 2019. Among them, the cross-regional movement of people was the most active on the first day of the holiday, which increased compared with the same period in 2019.ThailandseagamesBy 30.3%, an increase of 16.0% over the same period in 2023.

In terms of outbound travel, according to the forecast of the State Immigration Administration, the average daily number of people entering and leaving the country during the May 1 holiday this year will reach 1.76 million, which will return to about 85% of that in the same period in 2019, which is basically the same as that of the Qingming Festival holiday. The number of international flights increased sharply from the same period last year, returning to about 75 per cent of the same period in 2019. Japan and South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and other neighboring countries and Europe are the main destinations for international flights.

Analysts pointed out that in addition to the strong willingness of residents to travel, the obvious appreciation of the RMB exchange rate to neighboring countries and the increase in the convenience of outbound travel have also increased the enthusiasm of residents to travel.

As of press time, the website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has not released the number of tourists and tourism income during the May Day holiday, but analysts expect the overall data to continue the growth trend since the Spring Festival and Qingming Festival this year. Consumption increased further than last year's May Day holiday.

"tickets to many popular scenic spots sold out before the festival, and reports released by several travel platforms show that orders for tourism products have increased significantly compared with last year, reflecting residents' strong willingness to travel and high enthusiasm for consumption during the May Day holiday." Zhang Jingjing, a macro analyst at China Merchants Securities, said in the research report.

The sinking market becomes popular.

From the information released by the tourism platform, we can see that there have been obvious structural changes in the domestic travel market during the May Day short holiday this year, and hot cities are still hot, but the sinking market is becoming more and more attractive to people, and enjoying delicious food and beautiful scenery more "approachable" is becoming a new trend of travel.

According to the May 1 Holiday Travel Summary 2024 released by Ctrip, the most popular tourist destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Xi'an and Shenzhen. the sinking trend of tourism is more obvious, reflected in the year-on-year growth rate of tourism orders, first-and second-tier cities are smaller than third-and fourth-tier cities, and third-and fourth-tier cities are smaller than county markets.

Yangzhou, Luoyang, Qinhuangdao, Weihai, Guilin, Kaifeng, Zibo, Huangshan, Tai'an and Shangrao are popular third-and fourth-tier destinations, with tourism orders growing by an average of 11 percent, the report said. Anji, Tonglu, Dujiangyan, Yangshuo, Maitreya, Yiwu, Wuyuan, Jinghong, Kunshan and Pingtan are popular county tourist destinations, with an average increase of 36% in tourism orders.

With regard to the popularity of "sinking" tourism, CICC said in its latest report that the sinking market infrastructure and tourism products continue to improve, superimposing consumers' pursuit of a "sense of relaxation" and performance-to-price ratio, which has led to an upsurge of enthusiasm for "reverse travel" to low-line cities.

Wang Yalei, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, said in the report that the sinking market has a lower base and more room for growth. At the same time, tourists seek to be more relaxed and more cost-effective, accelerating the sinking trend. Compared with the "crowded" in first-and second-tier cities, the sinking market makes it possible for tourists to spend their holidays in a relaxed way.

Eat, drink, play and be hot.

In addition to enjoying the great mountains and rivers of the motherland, enjoying special food and watching a show and blockbuster "presumptuously" are also the main ways for people to entertain and relax during short holidays.

In terms of catering, Meituan's May Day holiday consumption data show that in the first three days of the holiday, the consumption of local living services increased by 25% compared with the same period last year, and the number of food orders in the national cafeteria increased by 73% compared with the same period last year.

Actions to boost consumption, such as holding shopping festivals and handing out consumption coupons, have led to people's enthusiasm for consumption, and people in various business circles are surging to help "buy and buy".

Shanghai spent 30.81 billion yuan offline during the holiday period, according to data monitored by UnionPay business big data, the Liberation Daily reported on Monday. Of this total, foreign consumption was 14.9 billion yuan, accounting for nearly half of the city's offline consumption, an increase of 0.7 percent over the same period in 2023, and the number of consumers was 14.486 million, an increase of 9.1 percent over 2023.

According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, during the May Day period, the passenger flow of 60 key business circles in the city reached 35.869 million, an increase of 2.5 percent over the same period last year, and the consumption amount reached 9.92 billion yuan. among them, the consumption amount of Wudaokou Business District, Zhongguancun Business District and Wangjing Business District increased by 1.3times, 1.1 times and 76.9% respectively compared with the same period last year.

In terms of cinema viewing, Cat's Eye Professional Edition data show that as of 21:00 on May 5, 2024, the total box office of May 1 (5.15.5) is 1.519 billion. The total number of moviegoers during the period was 37.579 million, with a total of 2.405 million shows, setting a new record for the total number of shows in the May 1st edition of Chinese film history.

In terms of performances, the latest data from "Ferris Wheel", a ticketing platform for Shanghai cultural performances, show that during the May 1 holiday, dozens of popular musicals, dramas, and talk shows on "Ferris wheel" increased by more than 50% month-on-month, while the number of non-local audience increased by more than 68% month-on-month.

Star performances also promote hotel accommodation. Hotel bookings around May Day concerts and music festivals have doubled compared with last year, according to Flying Pig. For example, two concerts in Taiyuan, Ren Xianqi and Xue Zhiqian, led to a 105% year-on-year increase in hotel orders during the May Day holiday, of which 90% were foreign tourists.