Consumption surges during New Year holiday

China's consumption market saw a rapid recovery during the New Year holiday, showing consumers have high enthusiasm for consumption, the Securities Daily reported.

Data from Meituan, an on-demand service platform, showed that compared with the same period of 2019, the daily average consumption rose 75 percent during this year's three-day holiday from Saturday to Monday.

The consumption scale of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Sichuan was among the country's highest.

Song Xiangqing, vice-president of the Academy of Government at Beijing Normal University, said that it's inevitable to see the consumption market experience a rapid recovery during the holiday.

Retail, catering, and tourism sectors attracted consumers with a variety of promotion events. Meanwhile, local governments also issued consumption coupons, unlocking people's consumption enthusiasm.

Statistics from the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau showed that during the three-day holiday, department stores, supermarkets, catering and e-commerce enterprises monitored by the bureau saw sales reach 3.53 billion yuan ($509.73 million), recovering to 83.8 percent of the same period of last year, while the foot traffic of the city's 52 key business areas topped 12.18 million.

Cultural and tourism sectors also experienced stable recovery. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the domestic tourism market saw 52.71 million trips during the holiday. This was 43 percent of the level during the same period back in 2019.

The pent-up consumption enthusiasm due to COVID-19 is expected to be released around the Spring Festival holiday, when a new round of consumption upsurge will appear, said Song.

Chinese cities recently unveiled a slew of measures to promote consumption, release potential in domestic demand and boost economic growth, Zhang Yiqun, deputy director of the China Special Committee on Budget Performance, told the newspaper. This year, China's consumption is predicted to maintain growth trend, Zhang added.