Consumption Market Booms During New Year's Day Holiday

Due to the favorable weather during the New Year's Day holiday, consumers have engaged in outing and shopping, leading to a consumption boom in markets across Hunan Province.

According to the monitoring data from the Ministry of Commerce, during the New Year's Day holiday (between December 30 and January 1), a total retail sales of over 552 million  yuan was achieved by 322 key monitored retail enterprises and 65 catering enterprises in the province. This was an increase of 13.62% compared with the same period in 2019. Among them, the sales of retail and catering were significantly higher than the same period in 2019.

The major comprehensive shopping malls provincewide launched an array of activities centered around such themes as China-chic and intangible cultural heritage during the holiday. The shopping malls witnessed surging foot traffic compared with that before the New Year's Day holiday, with a significant growth of business volume.

Hunan has been carrying out a series of activities to promote consumption from the New Year's Day holiday until the Lantern Festival. It will organize more than 200 events in novel forms and diversified themes, injecting over 360 million yuan to provide "real benefits" to consumers.

The wedding trend has been on the rise, with gold, silver, and jewelry becoming the top-selling items in Changsha City during the New Year's Day holiday, according to the monitoring data of provincial commercial department. The sales rose by 87.96% over the same period of the previous year and 144.39% compared to the same period of 2019.

Wedding fever fueled Hunan catering industry during the holiday. The province's catering market experienced tremendous popularity, with long waiting lists and a high table turnover rate. Statistics showed that the operating revenue of catering enterprises in Changsha increased by 202.71% compared to the same period last year and up 15.43% compared to the same period in 2019.

The self-drive, self-guided, peripheral, short-distance, and countryside tours, mainly made by family members, friends, and couples, have become the prevailing form of holiday tourism.