Cultural, sports events boost holiday spending

Shopping malls, restaurants and sports venues in Beijing have remained packed with visitors during the ongoing National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, representing a microcosm of the strong consumer demand nationwide.

The Chinese capital's reputation as a major sports hub is playing a pivotal role in stimulating consumption in the city.

Since its Sept 25 opening, the World Table Tennis China Smash, which concluded on Sunday, sold more than 85,000 tickets, generating 87 million yuan ($12 million) in revenue, up 52.6 percent year-on-year.

During the first three days of the holiday, cultural and sports-related consumption in Beijing's Shijingshan district reached nearly 200 million yuan. Shougang Park, which is located in the district and is home to the WTT events, drew 130,000 visitors on average daily, nearly double compared with last year, while sales of event-related cultural products surged 127 percent to 2.7 million yuan.

Meanwhile, the 2025 China Open tennis tournament hit new records between Sept 22 and Sunday. The number of visitors to the tournament's National Tennis Center venue in Chaoyang district totaled 360,000, up 20 percent year-on-year. It included 180,000 visitors from outside Beijing and nearly 10,000 from outside China.