China Boosts Tourism Industry Consecutively... "Retail Sales to Grow 5% This Year"

China is actively promoting related industries by continuously introducing domestic tourist destinations, including Harbin in Heilongjiang Province. Experts predict that if tourism is revitalized, retail sales could grow by about 5% this year.

On the 15th, China's state-run Global Times (GT) reported, "With increased consumption in winter sports and tourism, China's consumer market activity has surged, and the economy is expected to start strong this year," adding, "Experts predict that retail sales could grow by 5% this year due to the revitalization of the tourism industry."

[Image source= Xinhua News Agency]

In particular, GT reported that Harbin, which has rapidly emerged as a popular travel destination this year following Zibo in Shandong Province last year, has seen travel bookings increase more than 14 times compared to last year, attracting significant popularity. During the previous Lunar New Year holiday, when "ice and snow tourism" was a popular theme, the number of domestic tourists in China over three days reached 135 million, a 155.3% increase compared to the same period last year. During the same period, tourism revenue soared 200.7% to 79.73 billion yuan (approximately 14.7373 trillion KRW).

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China under the Ministry of Transport, the number of flights operating during this year's Spring Festival travel season, starting on the 26th of this month, is expected to reach 80 million. This represents a 44.9% increase compared to last year and a 9.8% increase compared to the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak.

In November last year, McKinsey identified China's tourism and entertainment industries as major drivers of China's consumer growth. GT explained, "With continuous urbanization and income level improvements, consumption is expected to maintain its growth trend in the mid to long term."

GT added, "China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is scheduled to be announced on the 17th, and retail sales increased by 7.2% from January to November, playing an important role in supporting the recovery and improvement of the national economy," further stating, "Consumer spending from the first to third quarters accounted for 83.2% of economic growth and contributed 4.4 percentage points to GDP growth." Tian Yun, former vice president of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, emphasized, "The momentum of consumption recovery was clear last year and will continue this year."