Nation sees consumption boom during Spring Festival holiday

China has witnessed robust consumer activity across sectors during the record nine-day Spring Festival holiday, offering an encouraging signal for consumer confidence as the world's second-largest economy seeks to cement its recovery momentum, according to economists and executives.

They said that the longer holiday period, which runs until Monday, has provided an extended window for robust consumer activity across the travel, dining, entertainment and retail sectors, offering an early-year boost to the consumption sector. This has been amplified by a targeted policy package, they added.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that the country's key retail and dining enterprises recorded an 8.6 percent year-on-year increase in average daily sales during the first four days of the Spring Festival holiday.

China launched a nationwide campaign for the holiday to ignite consumer spending, including consumer goods trade-ins, a prize invoice pilot program in which consumers with valid purchase invoices above a set threshold can enter a lottery to win cash prizes, and local consumption vouchers.

Gu Qingyang, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore, noted that Chinese authorities have prioritized consumption as a key economic driver, with Spring Festival holiday spending serving as a crucial barometer.

"The growth demonstrates that the consumption-promotion policies have yielded tangible results," Gu said.

China's consumer goods trade-in program has emerged as a powerful engine of holiday spending, driving about 196.39 billion yuan ($28.4 billion) in sales as of Wednesday and benefiting 28.44 million consumers.

In particular, consumer appetite for intelligent products has accelerated dramatically. During the holiday's first three days, sales of smart wearable devices on major platforms surged 19.7 percent year-on-year, with smart glasses more than doubling and smart blood glucose monitors increasing 48.6 percent.

"At the start of this year, the first group of fiscal funds totaling 62.5 billion yuan has been disbursed to local commerce departments for this year's consumer goods trade-ins," Vice-Commerce Minister Sheng Qiuping told a news conference ahead of the holiday.

In addition, a total of 2.05 billion yuan has been allocated by local governments for direct consumer benefits via vouchers, subsidies and digital cash red packets, Sheng said.

Gold jewelry has maintained its status as a favored purchase during the peak Spring Festival consumption season, with Chinese zodiac-inspired pieces and investment-grade bullion flying off shelves despite gold prices hovering at high levels.

Gold products infused with Year of the Horse imagery and auspicious cultural themes, alongside lightweight items such as one-gram "golden beans", have emerged as standout best-sellers during the holiday, said Lin Yu, an industry insider.

Gold prices have charged back to the $5,100-per-ounce mark, with China's jewelry prices vaulting back above 1,500 yuan per gram, according to data released over the weekend.

"Traditional heavy gold bangles are just too expensive for me right now," said Chen Sisi, a 26-year-old consultant in Beijing. "But buying a little bean each month is affordable. It feels like I'm treating myself, but I'm also saving money. It's much more motivating than just putting cash in a bank account."

Service consumption also emerged as a standout performer, with domestic travel spending on major platforms rising 4.5 percent year-on-year during the first three days of the Spring Festival holiday, while car rental orders jumped 26 percent, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, observed that folk, technology and cultural tourism — along with study tours for teenagers — are encouraging longer-distance travel. He predicted a record high in the number of urban and rural residents alike who are traveling.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched in late January a nationwide initiative running through early March that will feature some 30,000 cultural and tourism events and distribute more than 360 million yuan in consumption vouchers and subsidies, offering the public more choices for holiday celebrations.

Zhao Jie, public relations and media communications director for French sports retailer Decathlon China, told China Daily that the surging popularity of winter sports is vigorously driving the sales of related equipment and cultivating new consumption drivers.

China remains one of Decathlon's most important global markets, with the country's vast market space and continuously unleashed domestic demand potential providing a solid foundation for the company's development in the country, Zhao added.

Contact the writers at wangkeju@chinadaily.com.cn