"Strong Tourism and Consumption Atmosphere During Zhongqing Festival... Supporting Economic Recovery"

Local media reported that the improvement in consumption during the Qingming Festival holiday, one of China's four major traditional holidays, is supporting the economic recovery.

On the 4th, China Economic Observer reported that as of 7:18 PM that day, the daily box office revenue during the Qingming Festival reached 321 million yuan (approximately 59.9 billion KRW), marking an all-time high. This represents a 63.7% surge compared to last year's 196 million yuan and surpasses the previous record of 320 million yuan set in 2021.

[Image source= Xinhua News Agency]

However, the number of viewers was 8.052 million, lower than the 8.698 million in 2021. The increase in revenue was largely attributed to the rise in average movie ticket prices from 36.8 yuan in 2021 to 39.9 yuan.

Travel demand also surged significantly. According to Chinese online travel platform Qunar, flight and hotel bookings during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday increased by 140% compared to the previous week. Qunar told the state-run Global Times (GT), "A tourism boom is occurring in many parts of the country," adding, "Especially, flight bookings to small cities have more than doubled compared to last year."

According to the short-term accommodation rental platform Tujia, homestay bookings in major cities surged by 340% as of the 25th of last month. In particular, homestay bookings in Tianshui, Gansu Province in the northwest?a travel destination recently popular for its distinctive Malatang?have increased about 50 times compared to usual.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales from January to February this year increased by 5.5% year-on-year, falling short of the previous month's figure (7.4%). However, it was close to market expectations (5.6%) and exceeded some major foreign media estimates (5.0%). Local media highlighted that online retail sales during this period rose by 15.3%. Industrial production from January to February increased by 7.0% year-on-year, surpassing both market expectations (5.3%) and the previous month's figure (6.8%). This growth rate was the highest in about two years since February 2022 (7.5%).

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for March rose by 1.7 points from the previous month to 50.8. The PMI, based on surveys of corporate purchasing managers, is an indicator showing economic trends in the relevant sector. A PMI above 50 indicates expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction. The manufacturing PMI exceeding the threshold and returning to expansion territory is the first time since September last year (50.2), marking a half-year interval.

GT emphasized, "Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has shown signs of recovery, and consumer sentiment is improving," adding, "Numerous data points such as retail sales and manufacturing indicators demonstrate a solid recovery."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.