China's soaring weekend consumption helps further unleash vitality into sector

China's weekend consumption continues to soar after the Spring Festival, helping to further unleash the enormous vitality of the consumption sector.

Revenues for the Guangzhou Chimelong Tourist Resort in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province on some weekends in February surged nearly 300 percent year on year. In the most recent weekend, search volumes for accommodation and catering near the resort soared by 318 and 442 percent respectively compared to the same period of last year, according to statistics from China's leading e-commerce platform Meituan.

Tourists celebrate upcoming New Year at the Guangzhou Chimelong Tourist Resort in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

"Our staff are usually busiest from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings, as they help some customers check out, or offer other customers travel plans," said an executive of Jiashi Homestay Hotel near the Guangzhou Chimelong Tourist Resort. "Tourists from outside Guangzhou have grown in number, and accounted for some 30 percent of the total number of guests before the New Year Holiday, but are almost double now. Customers who want to spend weekends here must make room reservations at least three days in advance. The occupancy rate of our hotel during weekends is over 90 percent," the executive added.

Bookings for entry tickets to tourist attractions in Zhuhai and Guangzhou in the province in the last weekend of February expanded by 195 and nearly 100 percent year on year respectively.

Similar scenes have been seen in other parts of the country, such as Guizhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Hunan. "As rapeseed flowers come into full bloom in Xingyi city, Guizhou Province in February, related trips have become very popular," according to an executive of China's online travel service provider Tuniu.

 Li Xinjian, executive dean of the capital culture and tourism development institute of Beijing International Studies University, observed that supply-side innovations such as short-distance trips and weekend tourism products can better cater to consumers' needs.

In addition, dine-in consumption over the weekend has injected new impetus into the recovery of the catering sector. Data from Meituan revealed that dine-in orders placed on the platform in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai over the fourth weekend of February increased 117 percent year on year. An executive of Haidilao, a leading hot pot restaurant chain in China, said that the number of diners received by stores across the country in the third weekend of February increased by 15 percent compared to the weekend before the Chinese New Year.