China’s travel spending during the dragon boat festival holiday fell short of pre-Covid levels, underscoring the slowdown in consumption.
(Bloomberg) — China’s travel spending during the dragon boat festival holiday fell short of pre-Covid levels, underscoring the slowdown in consumption.
Domestic tourism revenue reached 37.3 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) over the period, 94.9% of the amount recorded in 2019 before the pandemic, according to a statement from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. There were 106 million domestic tourism trips made, surpassing the same period in 2019 by 12.8%.
China’s economy is facing mounting evidence of a slowdown in recent weeks and several investment banks have downgraded their growth forecasts, though most of them expect Beijing to still meet its relatively conservative target of around 5% for the year. The country’s policymakers are also facing growing calls for economic stimulus.
Earlier this month, the Communist Party’s No. 4 official Wang Huning said at a meeting that consumption was key to achieving China’s economic growth target.
During the Labor Day holidays in May, tourism spending was 148 billion yuan, only 0.7% higher than the pre-pandemic level. The number of domestic trips made over the five-day break reached 274 million, up 19% from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
The recent data points to “fading post-Covid recovery momentum for in-person services, especially when compared to the Labour Day holiday,” Nomura economist Lu Ting said in a note. “As pent-up demand fades and the risk of an economic double-dip becomes more real in coming months, we expect in-person services consumption growth to weaken further.”
–With assistance from Yujing Liu.
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