Consumer spending strong during holiday

The seven-day spring festival holiday has witnessed a pick-up in consumer spending nationwide. More Chinese have a bigger holiday budget, while others have chose to travel abroad to celebrate the Year of the Snake.

Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end, but the shopping sprees haven't. Beijing's bustling Wangfujing street remains a busy destination, with shop owners seeing a boost in the sale of digital devices, appliances, and clothes during the holiday.

Visitors come from all around the country. Some just favor the ambience, while others come with thick wallets.

" My budget for the new year has increased to several thousand yuan, due to a wage increase. "

"Thirty percent of my holiday spending goes to the red envelopes for the elderly, and children, I spend another twenty on shopping and the rest on meals with friends. "

Zhang Nini, Beijing, said:"The Spring Festival Holiday is a key shopping period in China. With so many people travelling around, and visiting malls and restaurants, the holiday economy shows signs of robust growth. Tourism in particular, has witnessed strong growth. "

The growing affluent Chinese population is travelling around the country and overseas to embrace the new year. Major tourism destinations around the country have witnessed a 15 to 20 percent increase in tourist numbers during the holiday. Outbound travel has witnessed the biggest increase.

According to the National Holiday Office, over four million mainlanders have chosen group outbound travel during the holiday, 14 percent more than last year. An average of 420,000 went overseas on a daily basis during the seven day holiday. And their favorite destinations are: Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Wu Wenxue, executive director of National Holiday Office, said:"One prominent feature this year, is that the outbound group travel has increased by leaps and bounds. An average 2.3 million Chinese are travelling overseas on any given day, and this number has not included individual travellers yet. "

Tourists to Thailand, and South Korea have increased over fifty percent from last year, while Japan, a past destination, has seen fewer Chinese travellers since last September due to the Diaoyu islands row.

And the huge spending power of wealthy Chinese has been recognized beyond China towns. Department stores from Dubai to London to New York are setting out Chinese style decorations, hiring Chinese speaking staff, and developing news lines for the snake year to attract the ever increasing amounts of Chinese shoppers.