BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Online payments through NetsUnion, Chinese online payment clearinghouse, and China UnionPay, a card payment giant, reached 3.89 trillion yuan (about 601.16 billion U.S. dollars) during the 2021 New Year holiday from Jan. 1 to Jan. 3, a record high among all previous New Year holidays.

Online payments for daily necessities, hotel accommodation and catering accounted for the largest proportions of the total transactions in the three-day period, according to the two platforms.

NetsUnion processed 4.36 billion online payment transactions during the holiday, up 28.37 percent year on year, while data from China UnionPay showed that travel-related consumption saw steady growth in the period from one year earlier.

China's consumer market remained buoyant during the holiday, with the average daily sales of key retail enterprises up 6.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.