China to see robust consumption during Dragon Boat Festival holiday

Traditional festivals are becoming an opportunity to boost consumption.

With the Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Festival, approaching, products related to the traditional festival, which falls on June 22 this year, have posted strong sales. The festival economy is injecting vitality into the consumer market in China.

Photo shows zongzi on sale in a supermarket in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province. (Photo/Dahe.cn)

Sales of freshly-made zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, which is a time-honored delicacy that Chinese people eat during this festival, has increased significantly, growing to 400 to 500 from 200 in ordinary times, said a staff member of a fresh food supermarket in Beijing.

Multiple major brands have launched festival limited edition products. "A special cake made for the festival has been sold out in our store," said an employee of a store of Beijing's time-honored snack brand Daoxiangcun in the city's Xicheng district. The employee added that the festival limited products are usually sold out before the festival.

The holiday economy and festival economy have become flashpoints for consumption and strong driving forces of consumption and promoting economic growth, said He Jianhua, a researcher of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

People's desire to travel is high during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Chinese online travel agency Qunar said train tickets for June 22, the first day of the holiday, were sold out in some routes such as Shanghai-Hangzhou and Shanghai-Qingdao on June 8.

As of June 8, train bookings for June 21 and 22 soared more than 30 times from a year earlier, and air ticket and car rental bookings jumped over sevenfold and nearly fourfold, respectively, said a report from online travel platform Fliggy.

A wide range of policies and measures to support the recovery and expansion of consumption are expected to be introduced, including improving the consumption environment, releasing the potential of service consumption, stabilizing automobile consumption, accelerating the construction of charging piles and energy storage facilities, and upgrading supporting power grids, the National Development and Reform Commission recently said.

With peak consumption seasons such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the summer vacation approaching, consumer demand for leisure, shopping and tourism will be further released, said Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce.

Shu added that the consumer market is expected to continue to maintain steady growth in the second quarter of the year thanks to consumer demand and consumption promotion policies.