Diners, travelers and shoppers drove Chinese consumer spending over the eight-day National Day holiday and Mid-Autumn Festival that began on Oct 1, data shows.
With family reunions an integral part of Monday's Mid-Autumn Festival, restaurants reported an uptick in business at the nation's dining establishments.
Online platform data shows that during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the occupancy rate in restaurants increased compared to the same period last year, with usage of private dining rooms for three to four people expanding by more than 90 percent.
Offering special experiences, like making your own mooncakes, has also helped restaurants draw in customers.
Toys with cultural associations to the Mid-Autumn Festival have also been a consumer favorite during the holiday.
"The design is very unique and novel, featuring products in the shape of round little rabbits, which are popular among young people like us," said Sun Xiaoli, a customer.
Retail enterprises have also been doing well. In Hui 'an County of Quanzhou City, east China's Fujian Province, a large supermarket, which recently reopened after renovations, welcomed a large number of consumers.
In Ruian, a county-level city in east China's Zhejiang Province, 54 new brands opened for business before the festival in a large mall, which more than 600,000 shoppers visited in the first six days of the holiday, a year-on-year increase of 17 percent, with sales volume growing by 24 percent year on year.
For online and in-store shoppers, green and intelligent products were among the most popular. According to data from major e-commerce platforms monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, sales of energy-saving home appliances at the highest energy-efficiency level increased by 19 percent in the first four days of the holiday, while smart refrigerator sales grew by 20.7 percent and smart home product sales expanded by 16.8 percent.
With many families looking for entertainment during the holiday, cinema box office revenues topped 1.6 billion yuan (about 225 million U.S. dollars) on the seventh day of the holiday.
Inbound tourists, encouraged by new visa-free entry policies, expanded tax refund coverage, and payment facilitation, have added to the holiday cheer.
At Heihe Port in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the number of inbound tourists during the first six days of the holiday was up 38.46 percent compared with the same period last year.
"I really like the morning market in Heihe. It's very interesting and beautiful," said a Russian tourist.
With road trips in new energy vehicles a fast growing segment of the holiday travel market, cars using the State Grid's smart vehicle networking platform drew 52.71 million kilowatt-hours of electricity at charging facilities in highway service areas, higher than in the same period last year.
State Grid and China Southern Power Grid have dispatched more mobile charging units and charging vehicles to support electric vehicles on holiday trips.
Diners, shoppers, travelers spend big during Chinese holiday
