(Economic Observation) "Numbers" say "May 1st": What changes do the "travel craze" reflect during the holidays?
China News Service, Beijing, May 5th, title: "Numbers" say "May 1st": What changes do the "travel craze" reflect during the holidays?
Author Liu Liang
This year's "May 1st" small holiday is coming to an end.
In the past few days, the "travel craze" among people in various parts of China has continued to rise. News such as "hard to find a ticket" and "hard to find a room" have been reported frequently in the newspapers.
As the second "May 1" holiday after China has entered the normalized epidemic prevention and control stage, how "hot" is "traveling" this year?
What are the consumer changes worth paying attention to behind it?
"Blowout" travel, 230 million people were on the road
If the recent Qingming holiday was only a "warm-up", then this year's "May 1st" holiday, the travel demand of the Chinese people can be said to have truly ushered in a blowout.
According to the latest official calculation data on the 5th, during the May 1st holiday, 230 million domestic tourists traveled across the country, an increase of 119.7% year-on-year, and on a comparable basis, it recovered to 103.2% of the same period before the epidemic; domestic tourism revenue was 113.23 billion yuan (RMB, The same below), a year-on-year increase of 138.1%, and on a comparable basis, it recovered to 77.0% of the same period before the epidemic.
According to data on the first day of the holiday, the total number of passengers sent by railways, highways, waterways, and civil aviation across the country was also significantly better than the same period last year.
Driven by the "travel fever", in the past few days, tourism consumption in scenic spots, accommodations, and transportation in various parts of China has achieved substantial growth.
According to the latest "May Day" travel report released by Tongcheng Travel on the 5th, during the holiday period, the number of people served by major transportation (including air tickets, train tickets, and car and ferry tickets) increased by 133% year-on-year, and the number of hotel room nights increased by 218% year-on-year. Ticket bookings for scenic spots increased by 441% year-on-year.
At the same time, more and more people went to the cinema to watch movies.
According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, as of 12:28 on the 5th, the total box office of the "May 1st" (including pre-sales) exceeded 1.52715 billion yuan, setting a new record for the total box office of the "May 1st" period of Chinese film history, "Your Wedding" Films such as "Above the Cliff" and "Secret Visitor" became popular films during the "May Day" period.
Consumption upgrade, "small town youth" top half of the sky
In the context of the continuous upgrading of consumption in China, consumption during the May 1st holiday this year has also shown a new trend worthy of attention.
First of all, from the perspective of consumers, "small town youth" have become a new driving force for consumption.
The "May 1st" report on Alipay platform shows that travel consumption in third-tier and lower cities accounted for nearly 60%, which supported half of the holiday economy.
In addition, the "young people in this small town" pay more attention to the quality of consumption and enjoyment of cultural life.
The data shows that their search volume for museums, script kills, offline performances, secret rooms, and the beauty industry have all increased significantly year-on-year.
Secondly, from the perspective of consumption content, the "home economy" continues to be popular.
With the advent of the home improvement season, especially recently, the official new round of "trade-in" policy has been introduced. The May Day holiday has also become an opportunity to detonate consumption of home appliances, home improvement, and home furnishings.
According to JD.com's big data, during the holiday season, the demand for large home appliances in northern cities has soared. Among them, the turnover of large appliances in kitchens and bathrooms increased by about 40%, and 8K TV sets outranked by about 50%; while consumers in southern provinces preferred air purifiers and massage Chairs, coffee machines, high-end hair dryers and other appliances that enhance the quality of life.
In addition, from the perspective of travel destinations, during the "May 1st" period, in addition to Internet celebrity cities, rural beauty is also popular, and county consumption is also hot.
Alipay data shows that counties in Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Anhui and other places are on the list.
At the same time, red tourism has also become a new trend in tourism consumption for young tourists.
The same trip data shows that among the red tourist population, the overall population under 40 accounts for 89.1%.
From the perspective of travel methods, a researcher from the EHi Travel Research Institute said that in addition to traditional travel methods, with the normalization and routineization of epidemic prevention work, relatively private and safe self-driving travel has become the main choice for people to travel. "High-speed rail + "Self-driving car rental" has become a new trend.
"Bright" data has won widespread attention at home and abroad
During the "May 1st" period, a series of "bright" data on China's tourism and consumer markets also received widespread attention from domestic and foreign institutions.
Agence France-Presse reported that during the "May 1st" period, many Chinese tourists visited many places. Although tourist attractions, restaurants, and stations were crowded, the people's epidemic prevention measures were still in order.
With the epidemic under control, the Chinese people are gradually returning to their normal lives.
Reuters reported that during the May 1st period, the number of trips by the Chinese people increased sharply, and the current severe situation of the overseas epidemic also means that more Chinese people will choose to travel domestically in the future, which will bring strong short-term benefits to the Chinese economy. Vibrate.
Bloomberg News also reported that China’s initial success in fighting the epidemic has supported China’s economic recovery.
Although sporadic outbreaks have occurred in China since the beginning of this year, China’s ability to control sporadic epidemics has injected more confidence in people’s holiday travel.
The Jingdong report pointed out that China's tourism economy performed better than expected in the first quarter, which is evident from the consumption data.
Entering the second quarter, as residents' consumption and willingness to travel continue to heat up, the fundamentals of China's economic recovery will be further stabilized.
In addition, the tourism and home consumption peaks during the "May 1st" period will further promote the development of physical manufacturing, commerce, tourism, aviation and other related industries, making consumption an important driving force for China's economic growth.
(Finish)