Photo: VCG

As the Dragon Boat Festival, or "Duanwu" Festival kicked off on Saturday, China has seen a robust consumption growth ranging from increasing passenger trips, a strong box office, and spending on festival related products, showing a continuous rebounding and strong resilience of the world's second-largest economy.

According to China Railway, the national railway operator, Saturday is expected to be the peak day of the passenger flow during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holidays, with a total of about 17 million passenger trips are expected to be transported, compared with 16.2 million trips in the same period of last year.

The National Immigration Administration estimated that from Saturday to Monday, the country will see a daily average of 1.75 million passenger trips at Chinese ports, a year-on-year increase of 32.5 percent.

A report released by Chinese online tourism platform Trip.com showed that local tours are the most popular form of travel during the ongoing holidays, with bookings increasing by 20 percent year-on-year. The popular domestic destinations include Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Suzhou, according to the information the company shared with the Global Times on Saturday.

In addition, the search heat for outbound hotels on the platform has risen by 50 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia are among the popular destinations, read the report.

The rising booking shows consumers' enthusiasm and strong demand for travel, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Compared with 2019, the upward trend in the country's tourism industry can be predicted, as the tourism industry is gradually recovering after the impact of the pandemic, Wang noted.

Alongside with the holiday travel fever, the country's box office also welcomed good performance. According to Beacon, a box office tracker, as of 16:08 on Saturday, the total box office for new films including pre-sales during the Dragon Boat Festival holidays exceeded 200 million yuan ($27.6 million).

As the Dragon Boat Festival arrives, the popularity of a variety of festive commodities has soared. In addition to eating zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and a time-honored delicacy that Chinese people eat during the festival, colorful ropes, hanfu, dragon boat-related equipment and other traditional folk products are also popular among consumers.

As wearing colorful ropes at the Dragon Boat Festival signifies "warding off evil spirits and keeping healthy," the search volume of colorful ropes has increased by 167 percent, with the transaction amount soaring 302 percent year-on-year, data from JD.com showed.

Moreover, wearing hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han people, to have their pictures taken has become a major ritual as part of festive trips. Online commerce platform JD.com said that since May 31, sales of adult hanfu sets has jumped more than three-fold month-on-month. 

The Dragon Boat Festival typically represents the start of the summer travel period. The contribution of the ongoing festival and summer vacation travel to the GDP is obvious. They not only promote the development of related industries including transportation, accommodation and dining, but also boost domestic demand and contribute to a thriving job market, Wang noted.

Global Times