9-day holidays in China sparked consumer boom

The nationwide trade-in program for old goods also continued to stimulate demand.

China's consumer sector received a significant boost in the first days of the Spring Festival /Chun Jie, the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar/, as Chinese consumers actively spent money, filling restaurants and shopping centers, as well as traveling across the country.

In the first four days of the holiday, the average daily sales volume of major retail and catering enterprises increased by 8.6 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China. In the first three days of the holiday, there was a 4.5 percent increase in foot traffic and a 4.8 percent increase in revenue across 78 key shopping streets and districts.

This year, the Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, fell on February 17, with a total holiday duration of nine days starting from February 15.

This boom in consumer activity resulted from a combination of both traditional and new trends. Online platforms recorded heightened interest in "smart" devices: sales of wearable devices on the largest platforms surged by 19.7 percent year-on-year in the first three days of the holiday. Notably, sales of smart glasses increased by 3.5 times and intelligent glucometers by nearly 50 percent.

Spending on services also accelerated. In the first three days of the holiday, domestic tourism spending through major online platforms saw a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent, while the number of car rental orders rose by 26 percent.

In the island province of Hainan in southern China, sales in duty-free shops reached 970 million yuan (almost 140 million USD) in the first four days of the holiday, up 15.8 percent compared to last year.

The nationwide trade-in program for old goods also continued to stimulate consumer demand. As of February 18, about 28.44 million consumers had taken advantage of subsidies for the trade-in scheme, resulting in sales volume of nearly 196.39 billion yuan, of which 100.23 billion yuan was attributed to car purchases under the trade-in program.

Ahead of the nine-day holiday, the government implemented a series of support measures, recommending local authorities and businesses to combine promotional activities with policy incentives, including the issuance of consumer vouchers and improving payment services for visitors.