Flourishing consumer market during May Day holiday manifests exuberant vitality of Chinese economy

Photo taken on May 2, 2021, shows tourists shopping at a duty-free store in Riyue Plaza of Haikou city, capital of south China’s Hainan province. (People’s Daily Online/Wang Chenglong)

The recently concluded May Day holiday in China, which lasted from May 1 to 5, witnessed an estimated total of 267 million passenger trips, with the average daily passenger trips exceeding 53.47 million, up 122.2 percent year on year, according to data from the country's Ministry of Transport (MOT).

On May 1, railways in China handled a record high of nearly 18.83 million passengers, 9.2 percent more than the pre-pandemic level during the same period in 2019.

Data released by the China Film Administration showed that the box office revenue on the Chinese mainland surpassed 1.6 billion yuan (about $247.2 million) from May 1 to 17 p.m. on May 5, a new record for the total box office revenue on the Chinese mainland during the holiday.

In addition, the concentrated release of consumer demand online drove rapid growth in the business of China's express delivery sector. Postal and courier companies across the country delivered a total of 260 million parcels on May 1, which marked an approximately 30-percent year-on-year growth rate.

Such highlights of China's consumer market during this year's May Day holiday, which were based on effective control and prevention of the COVID-19, have drawn worldwide attention.

"Tickets for everything from domestic flights to theme parks are rapidly selling out in China ahead of its Labor Day holiday as the nation's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic gathers pace," the Bloomberg News said in a report published on April 28.

China Labour Day travel rush gives glimpse of life after COVID-19, wrote Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a report released on May 1.

Mass vaccinations in China have boosted confidence about travel, observed the Associated Press (AP) in a report published on May 1.

The continuous recovery in China's consumer market has demonstrated the strong vitality and vigor of the Chinese economy and injected confidence and hope into the recovery of the global economy.

Consumption is considered as the "ballast stone" for the stable performance of the Chinese economy and the major engine for the country's economic growth. Since the beginning of this year, China's consumer market has shown evident signs of recovery as life and production in the country quickly return to normal.

In the first quarter of this year, China's retail sales rose 33.9 percent year on year to more than 10.52 trillion yuan, which represented an 8.5-percent growth from the same period in 2019 and a 1.86-percent growth from the fourth quarter of last year.

Household consumption is expected to play a bigger role in driving economic growth in China this year, pointed out an article published on the Financial Times.

Market is regarded as the scarcest resource in today's world. China boasts the great advantage of a super-large domestic market with 1.4 billion people including more than 400 million people belonging to the middle-income group, which is also believed to be an opportunity for common development in the world.

The continued consumer enthusiasm in China's domestic market was called a heartening signal to the world by international observers.

The latest data released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicated that China was the largest destination for foreign direct investment in 2020.

China's continued economic growth has provided good business opportunities for German companies, according to Christina Otte, an expert on China affairs at the Germany Trade and Investment.

"If your company isn't investing heavily in China, it'll be too late to catch up," wrote a foreign Internet user named Shaun Rein in an online post. Rein described in the post that tourism in China is roaring and he hasn't been able to book a hotel he wanted for the May Day holiday.

The flourishing consumer market in holidays is a mirror of China's market vitality. After the May Day holiday, a number of grand events designed to smoothen the domestic and international circulation and promote win-win cooperation between China and various countries will be held in the country.

The first China International Consumer Products Expo is slated to take place from May 7 to 10 in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan province. The event is expected to bring together more than 2,500 brands from 69 countries and regions.

The 2021 China Brand Day events are scheduled in east China's Shanghai from May 10 to 12 under the theme of "China Brand, Global Sharing; Focusing on Dual Circulation, Leading New Consumption." It has become a common choice for various countries to gather in the Chinese market and share China's opportunities for development.

China is quickening its steps to build a new development paradigm featuring dual circulation, in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

Under the new development paradigm, consumption is expected to serve as a more important driving force for economic growth.

It's believed that the vibrant Chinese market is bound to become a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all.

Looking into the post-pandemic era, the Chinese market is right an important opportunity for global economic recovery.