Quality consumer spending has become a major highlight of the Chinese New Year holiday, as tourism, retail and catering recorded double-digit growth over the same period last year.
CCTV News reported that the six-day New Year holiday received a total 386 million trips, a rise of 12.1%. Tourism revenue also increased 12.6%, hitting 475 billion yuan (US$74.85 billion), according to the latest data from the National Tourism Administration.
New tourism products such as country-run hotels and specialty towns are becoming more popular with tourists, while self-driving tours accounted for 50% of total trips, making it a favoured way of travelling for Chinese families.
Meanwhile, Sina Finance reported that the retail and catering industry achieved sales of about 926 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2% over last year, quoting the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce.
Is China really like this or is this a pipe dream ?