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Boosting consumer confidence has presented a key challenge for
Chinese authorities this year amid a declining property market,
high youth unemployment and deflation pressures.
The total spent over the May 1 to 5 holiday was 12.7% higher
than last year, shortly after China lifted COVID-19 curbs, and
the tourism ministry recorded 295 million domestic trips during
the holiday.
But spending of 565.7 yuan per head during the holiday period, a
key opportunity for residents to go on family trips as the
weather warms and spring flowers bloom, was down 11.5% from pre-COVID
levels in 2019, Reuters calculations based on official data
show.
The data dampens hopes for rebounding consumption after spending
strengthened during another recent holiday, the Tomb Sweeping
festival, but wasn't a surprise, said Jonathan Yan, a
Shanghai-based partner at consultancy Roland Berger.
"Overall, I think people are tightening their belts and
confidence is subdued, but they still want experience," Yan
said, adding that many travelers opted for short-haul overseas
destinations such as Japan and Korea for the five-day break.
"They are not spending more money than before, but still
travelling while trading down a bit or spending less on
shopping," he said.
Domestic airline fares fell in the run-up to the holiday, as
forecasts suggested more travelers were opting to drive instead,
or had booked early to save.
The number of short trips grew noticeably during the break,
Guotai Junan Securities said in a research note on Monday.
Growth in the number of trips in small cities and counties
outstripped that in big cities, travel giant Trip.com added.
Box-office sales of 1.53 billion yuan roughly matched last
year's figure of 1.52 billion over the corresponding period, the
China Film Administration said.
"Formed Police Unit", a film about Chinese police on overseas
peacekeeping missions for the United Nations, topped the holiday
box-office charts with earnings of more than 400 million yuan,
data from box-office tracker Maoyan showed.
($1=7.2147 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Sophie Yu andCasey Hall; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez and Bernadette Baum)
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