China’s economy gets New Year boost from holiday travel and shopping

BEIJING: China’s sluggish domestic consumption got a boost over the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, with travel and retail sales both offering a slight reprieve to a dragging economy facing the prospect of an escalating US trade war.

Train stations and airports across the country were jam-packed for weeks as millions returned home for the festive period in an annual migration that is expected to be a record. Official data showed there were 500 million domestic tourist trips during the eight-day holiday period, commerce ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said Thursday.

That’s a 5.9 per cent jump from the same period last year, when travel numbers returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, sales of “key retail and catering services nationwide” were also up, by 4.1 per cent compared to last year, He Yongqian told reporters in Beijing.

The government has struggled to get China’s billion-strong army of consumers to inject cash into the economy as a prolonged real estate crisis weighs on confidence. But last month, policymakers expanded a subsidy scheme for common household items, from water purifiers and refrigerators to laptops and electric vehicles.

During the holiday period, sales of household appliances and communication equipment at “key monitored retail enterprises” were up more than 10 per cent year-on-year, according to the commerce ministry. China recorded five percent growth in gross domestic product last year, among the slowest in decades.