From the Qixi Festival to the Olympic Games: China's consumption booms in summer

A couple celebrates the Qixi Festival in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Photo: IC

From the Qixi Festival and the excitement of the Olympic Games to the bustling cinema scene and popular tourist destinations, China is currently experiencing a consumption boom across numerous sectors, underscoring the country's vibrant and dynamic economy.

Chinese consumers are showing their love for leisure, entertainment and sports in big ways. Sports fans are clamoring for gear inspired by their favorite Olympic athletes, and many prefer to spend their summer days at the theater or exploring new destinations.

The buying spree reflects the immense potential of China's consumer market, which is expected to further boost the country's economic growth, experts said.

With the upcoming Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day), couples are looking for unique and romantic dating experiences, leading to a surge in hotel and restaurant bookings.

With the Qixi Festival falling on a Saturday this year, hotel packages including dinner and tickets to scenic areas are enjoying great popularity, with bookings up 122 percent from last month, according to data from Tongcheng Travel sent to the Global Times on Friday.

Meanwhile, the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris have led to a boom in sports consumption in China.

On e-commerce platform Taobao, Chinese diving sensation Quan Hongchan's “ugly fish” slippers saw a 1,396 percent increase in search volume. Tennis champion Zheng Qinwen's popularity led to over 1.53 million intended purchases of the tennis racket she uses on Taobao, according to data provided to the Global Times by Alibaba Group on Friday.

On online shopping platform Meituan, search volume for “sports” saw a significant month-on-month increase of 180 percent in July, with some “niche activities” such as archery, indoor surfing and rock climbing becoming consumers' most searched terms, according to data Meituan provided to the Global Times on Friday.

In addition to sports consumption, Chinese box office revenues are also rising, surpassing one billion yuan ($139.4 million) on Thursday (August 8), indicating strong demand for entertainment and leisure activities, according to real-time data from ticketing platform Dengta.

The summer travel season, which begins on July 1, is also seeing a significant upturn. As of Tuesday, the national railway had recorded a total of 513 million passenger trips, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year, CCTV reported.

The surge in consumption comes at a time of increased efforts by the Chinese authorities to boost services consumption in the country, with the aim of unlocking the full potential of consumer spending.

Government officials from various departments announced plans on Friday to expand service provision to meet the population's growing demand for a better quality of life.

Efforts will be made to improve the atmosphere for cultural and tourism consumption, upgrade facilities in the cultural and tourism sector and enhance the consumer experience through discounts and vouchers for tickets to tourist attractions, officials said.

The central government will allocate a budget to support cultural and tourism projects, with a focus on improving key infrastructure such as roads, tourist toilets, parking lots and charging stations. In addition, sports parks and football pitches will be improved, as well as public fitness facilities, officials said.

According to experts, efforts to increase consumption of services are expected to have a positive impact on the economy, boost consumption growth and create business opportunities in various sectors.

As Chinese people's living standards continue to improve, consumption demand is shifting toward higher-quality services. The development of service consumption not only satisfies the public's growing spiritual and cultural needs, but also promotes consumption growth and unleashes the huge potential of consumer spending, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, told the Global Times on Friday.

Thanks to the consistent implementation of consumption-promoting measures, the Chinese consumer market continued to grow in the first half of the year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales of consumer goods in China rose 3.7 percent in the first half of this year compared to the previous year.

One bright spot was the consumption of services. In the first half of the year, retail sales of services rose by 7.5 percent compared to the previous year. This figure was 4.3 percentage points higher than for goods.

“In response to the increasing demand for quality services, the policies and efforts of various government departments are crucial and timely to provide a detailed roadmap for consumption recovery,” Cong said.

The development of the service industry has enormous potential and can absorb more workers than the manufacturing sector, which promotes innovation and entrepreneurship among small and medium-sized enterprises, said Cong.