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China’s Nine-Day Lunar New Year Brings Record Travel, Mixed Consumption Signals

Early gains look uneven, pointing to stimulus‑fueled travel strength alongside softer discretionary outlays.

Overview

  • Official data show 596 million domestic trips and 803.5 billion yuan in tourism spending during the holiday, both up about 19% year on year, while spending per trip edged down 0.2%.
  • Average daily sales at major retail and catering enterprises rose 8.6% in the first four days of the break, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
  • Hainan’s offshore duty‑free sales jumped 30.8% to 2.72 billion yuan, with shoppers up 35.4%, helped by the new Free Trade Port framework and expanded visa‑free entry.
  • The Spring Festival box office totaled 5.75 billion yuan, down 39.5% from a year earlier, as admissions fell 35.8%, highlighting weakness in cinemas.
  • Travel capacity and cross‑border flows climbed, with rail operators adding services and the National Immigration Administration reporting 17.7 million Chinese traveled abroad, up 10% from last year.