China News Agency, Beijing, January 6 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) Shu Jueting, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China, said on the 6th that the consumption enthusiasm of Chinese residents is returning, and the overall consumption is expected to maintain a steady recovery trend.
Shu Jueting said at the press conference held that day that with the continuous optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control measures, residents' travel and offline consumption have gradually increased, and the consumer market will recover in an orderly manner during the New Year's Day holiday in 2023.
Shu Jueting said that driven by the festive atmosphere and various promotional activities, residents' basic living consumption has grown steadily, and demand for new year's goods, daily necessities and other commodities has increased.
During the New Year's Day holiday, the sales of grain, oil, food, beverages, and daily necessities of retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increased by 11.3%, 10.2%, and 2.6% year-on-year respectively.
In terms of service consumption, catering stores across the country have gradually resumed dine-in, and catering companies sell online and offline through multiple channels to meet the diverse needs of consumers.
The consumption of ice and snow continues to heat up, and colorful New Year's Eve activities are favored.
The demand for inter-provincial travel and long-distance travel has increased significantly, and the hotel occupancy rate and booking rate in popular tourist destinations have continued to increase.
According to institutional data, the box office of movies on New Year’s Day exceeded 550 million yuan (RMB, the same below), and the operating rate of theaters nationwide reached 85%, a record high in 10 months.
Online consumption also maintained rapid development.
Shu Jueting said that according to the monitoring of business big data, the national online retail sales in the first five days of the "2023 National Online New Year's Day" reached 208 billion yuan, an increase of 4.7% over the same period of the previous New Year's Day.
Shu Jueting said that with the continuous optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures, the normal production and living order and offline consumption scenes have accelerated, and residents' enthusiasm for consumption is returning.
In the future, we will give priority to the recovery and expansion of consumption, and actively study and implement detailed policies and measures to promote consumption.
(use up)