Tourists walk under red lanterns at Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street on the sixth day of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, on February 3, 2025 in Tianjin, China.
Image: Ma Di/VCG via Getty Images
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 percent 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 percent compared to last year, He Yongqian told reporters in Beijing.
