Consumption during the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon is “hot”
Hong Kong people’s consumption in traveling north has more than tripled, and consumption of sports, health and coffee has soared
The long "8+1" Spring Festival holiday in 2024 has ignited people's enthusiasm for travel and consumption.
Going home in the first half and traveling in the second half has become a new "fad" during the New Year this year, and it has also led to many new consumption phenomena.
Recently, WeChat and Tongcheng Travel released the "Observation on "New Ideas" in Consumption during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon" (hereinafter referred to as the "Observation"), which showed four "new ideas" - "new ways" to celebrate the New Year: sports and health, and cafe consumption respectively year-on-year. The growth rate exceeds 60% and 40%. The travel economy drives fast food and snacks to grow significantly; the "new face" of the city: people going home and traveling constitute the "new face" of the city, bringing new vitality to various cities. Some Internet celebrity cities The search volume increased five times month-on-month; the "new trend" in travel: Hong Kong residents traveling north to celebrate the New Year has become a new flow direction, the number of online and offline transactions by Hong Kong people in the mainland has increased nearly five times, and the transaction amount has increased more than three times; the "new atmosphere" of outbound travel: with The expansion of the "circle of friends" in visa-free countries has boosted Chinese people's interest in outbound travel.
Compared with the single-day average in January this year, in Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Japan, the number of transportation purchases through WeChat payment increased significantly.
Among them, Grab's overseas ride-hailing mini program, which provides services in 500 cities in Southeast Asia, has increased by 20 times compared with the initial launch, reaching 2078%.
“New way” to celebrate Chinese New Year boosts Spring Festival consumption
During the Spring Festival holiday of the Year of the Dragon in 2024, "hot and hot" is the best footnote for the strong offline consumption.
Among them, catering and wine and travel mini-program orders grew the fastest, with year-on-year increases of 36% and 19% respectively.
Travel opens up many new opportunities.
Among them, compared with the 2023 Spring Festival, offline consumption of fast food and snacks increased by 59% and 35%, which is higher than the main meal more commonly chosen for New Year reunions.
The "Erbin" craze has also driven enthusiasm for bathing in Northeastern specialty projects. Bathing and health care increased by more than 20% year-on-year during the Chinese New Year.
At the same time, “exercise” and fitness have become many people’s New Year goals.
Thanks to the demand for purchasing sports equipment brought by travel and users' need to keep fit, the purchase of fitness and sports equipment during the Spring Festival surged 63% year-on-year.
As people's living habits change and young people return to their hometowns, coffee consumption has also become a "new habit".
"Observation" shows that young people who return to their hometowns do not forget to have a cup of coffee, and consumption in cafes has increased by more than 40% year-on-year.
The "new face" of returning to hometown drives urban consumption
The travel craze brings with it fireworks.
Chongqing, Chengdu and Xi'an have become the top three cities with the most active consumption besides Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Among the cities with the most active offline consumption, Linyi, Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Zhengzhou and Nanyang are experiencing the fastest growth. The huge number of returning migratory birds and tourists have boosted the local economy.
According to data from Tongcheng Travel, the popularity of "ice and snow tourism" continues during the Spring Festival. Xi'an, Harbin, Changchun, Lanzhou, and Shenyang have become the main destinations, and Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi are the main source of tourists in the south.
The "niche" treasure cities in the Midwest can no longer be hidden, and the search popularity of some Internet celebrity cities has increased alarmingly.
Compared with the week before the festival, the week-on-week search volume in Ruili, Yunnan Province increased by 542%, and the week-on-week search volume in Luoyang, Zibo, and Xi'an also exceeded 100%, reaching 188%, 176%, and 111% respectively.
Bay Area "life circle" and visa-free "friend circle" consumption boom
This year, Hong Kong and Macao residents traveling north to visit relatives, shop for goods, and travel have become a "landscape".
Consumption and life have become more convenient because of the "one-hour living circle" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
"Observation" shows that the number and value of Hong Kong residents' mainland consumption transactions (including online and offline) have increased sharply. The number of transactions has increased nearly five times and the value has exceeded three times compared with the Spring Festival in 2023, while Baystone Comprehensive The number of visits to cross-border service mini-programs also increased by 365% month-on-month.
During the Chinese New Year in the Mainland, Hong Kong residents “favorite” food and beverages. The offline catering industry has the fastest growing amount of consumption transactions among Hong Kong people in the Mainland, exceeding 30 times. WeChat Pay HK, the WeChat Hong Kong wallet, has become the preferred payment method for Hong Kong people to order meals when they return to the Mainland. Way.
The top three mini programs used by Hong Kong residents in the mainland are Didi Chuxing, luckyincoffee, and Meituan.
At the same time, the number of mainland tourists traveling to Hong Kong and Macao during the Spring Festival also increased dramatically.
The average daily number of WeChat Pay offline transactions in Hong Kong soared five times year-on-year; the average daily number of offline payments in Macau doubled to 106%; among them, the average daily number of Hong Kong ride code consumption increased 18 times year-on-year.
As the visa-free “circle of friends” expands, Chinese people travel further and further during the Spring Festival.
During the Spring Festival, the number of overseas payments made by WeChat Pay increased nearly 2.4 times year-on-year. Southeast Asia is still the preferred destination for most people to go abroad.
In Southeast Asia, Chinese tourists can obtain shopping orders, hotel reservations, taxi travel and other services through various WeChat mini-programs. They can also enjoy the same digital life experience abroad as they do at home.
Data shows that during the Spring Festival, the Grab overseas ride-hailing mini program saw an increase of 193% in the number of daily transactions compared with January this year, and a 2078.4% increase in average daily usage compared with the initial launch in April 2023.
In addition, tourists can easily use WeChat payment when traveling on public transportation in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and other places.
Compared with the single-day average in January, the number of purchases of Thailand BTS light rail tickets through WeChat payment increased by 123%, and the number of purchases of Tokyo subway and other train tickets through the "Travel Japan" applet increased by 89%.
Yangcheng Evening News reporter Wang Danyang