Hotpot festival spices up Chongqing's consumer market

With the Year of the Rabbit just around the corner, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality is holding a hotpot festival for local residents, aiming to add more incentives to the consumer market in the new year.

Chongqing hotpot, a renowned cuisine in China, has spread its footprint across the world. There are nearly 30,000 hotpot restaurants in Chongqing and some 200,000 hotpot restaurants across over 20 countries, according to data from the Chongqing Hotpot Association.

This year, the hotpot festival has invited over 20 hotpot companies to provide services. The event will run from Jan 6 to Feb 5.

"By holding the festival, on the one hand, we hope to inject more confidence into the hotpot industry at home and abroad," said Chen Guohua, head of the Chongqing Hotpot Association. "On the other hand, we also want hotpot, a complex industry, to drive a variety of other businesses, such as agriculture and tourism."

Due to favorable prices, many consumers are visiting stalls to eat hotpot. "Chongqing hotpot is hot and spicy, and contains a large variety of food," said He Yan, who spent 48 yuan (about $7) on a hotpot serving.

At a stall operated by Liu's Chongqing Hotpot, a brand which was established in 2000 and has more than 1,500 restaurants around the world, some people are enjoying eating hotpot and others are buying hotpot bases, ready-made hotpot and other products.