China’s consumption has almost completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, as shown by surging spending on items from travel products to duty-free goods during the 2021 May Day holidays. In Haikou, capital of Hainan province, Chinese people made 65,400 purchases amounting to CNY485 million of offshore duty-free goods in the first three days of the five-day May Day holiday period, up 215.24% year-on-year. In Wuhan, the city at the heart of the initial coronavirus outbreak in China, more than 140,000 passengers trips were recorded at Wuhan Railway Station on May 1. Many hotels were booked out days or even weeks ahead of the holidays. In Shanghai, tourists paid about 4.66 million visits to 170 tourism sites, up 166% from 2020 and 6% more compared to 2019.

On average, every Chinese tourist spent about CNY1,713 on tourism and other items during this year’s May Day holiday, setting a record for the past years. During the five-day May Day holiday, CNY113.23 billion flowed into China’s tourism industry, up 138.1% year-on-year and about 77% of that of pre-epidemic levels, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. A total of 230 million domestic trips were made over the five days, compared with 637 million trips during the eight-day Golden Week holiday last year which combined the October 1 National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Chinese people’s per-capita disposable income rose 4.7% to CNY32,189 in 2020.

“While the consumption sector was a burden on the Chinese economy in 2020, its contribution to the general economy will climb steadily to about 60% of GDP growth by the end of this year, while export momentum will slow down,” Tian Yun, Vice Director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times. This is roughly the same as in 2019, which saw about 57.8% of the country’s GDP growth coming from consumption spending, meaning that China’s consumption market will return to normal this year. Tian predicted that China’s GDP will grow by about 8.5% this year. He noted that the booming consumption market was in part fueled by a shift from overseas to local spending as many parts of the world are still locked down due to the pandemic. Tian added that if virus strains from India spread to certain parts of China and cause regional lockdowns, the impact on the Chinese economy is “uncertain.” Apart from coronavirus threats, rising inflation in the world, particularly of bulk commodity products like oil would also pose threats to the Chinese economy, including shrinking exports and rising manufacturing costs, the Global Times reports.  

Some 230 million domestic trips were made over the five-day May Day holiday, marking a year-on-year rise of 119.7% and an increase by 103.2% compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic. Tourism-related revenue exceeded CNY113 billion, up 138.1% year-on-year, reaching 77% of the level before the pandemic.