Yang Yunfei

1017800664@qq.com

TOURISM revenue in Futian, Shenzhen’s central business district, during the Chinese New Year holiday that ended Saturday jumped sharply and surpassed 2019 levels, adding signs of further improvement in the city’s consumption.

Tourism spending in Futian surged 186.71% year on year to 1.30 billion yuan (US$180.70 million) from the same holiday period in 2023, according to data provided by Futian authorities.

Compared with the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country, tourism spending rose 11.9%, the authorities said, without providing specific figures for 2019.

The number of trips made by domestic tourists to Futian during this year’s holiday totaled 1.56 million, an increase of 93.4% compared with 2023 and up 10.73% from the comparable period in 2019, according to the official data.

As the nation’s most important holiday, the Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is a key barometer for measuring consumption. The holiday in 2024 lasted for eight days, one day more than the Lunar New year break in 2019.

In terms of nighttime tourism expenditure, Futian raked in 307 million yuan to lead the city, followed by Nanshan with 237 million yuan and Bao’an with 232 million yuan.

Official data show that shopping, accommodation and catering accounted for the highest proportions of Futian’s tourism consumption, reaching 37.98%, 21.57% and 16.74%, respectively.

Futian’s central business area turned out to be a preferred location for tourists, who made 340,300 trips to the area and spent a total of 355 million yuan there. The average spending of 1042.34 yuan per person is also higher than the city’s average level, official figures show.

During the holiday, the total foot traffic in Futian’s seven major business areas reached 4.65 million, with a daily average foot traffic of 516,100.

One Avenue, a 1.4-million-square-meter commercial complex comprising of shopping areas, residential compounds and apartments located in Gangxiabei, became the first choice of residents when shopping and dining, with a total foot traffic of 1.46 million and a daily average foot traffic of more than 160,000 during the holiday.

Shenzhen’s daily average consumption during this Spring Festival holiday surged 37% compared with last year, coming in at sixth in the country, with Nanshan, Futian and Longgang ranking in the top three in terms of consumption scale, according to Meituan, a popular Chinese e-commerce service platform.

The Meituan data also show that the service industry in Guangdong Province recorded strong growth during the Spring Festival holiday, with the scale of daily average consumption ranking first in the country.

Official data showed Sunday that tourism revenue in China during the holiday surged 47.3% year on year to 632.7 billion yuan and surpassed 2019 levels, with some 474 million tourist trips made around the country during the festival.

Shenzhen also saw a tourism boost during the holiday, with tourism revenue soaring 178.25% year on year to 8.79 billion yuan and tourists making 8.26 million visits to the city, up 76.02% year on year.

Analysts said that the strong numbers show that consumption in the world’s second-largest economy is mounting a further rebound and could give a much-needed lift to the post-COVID recovery.