Host cities across south China's Guangdong Province, and the neighboring Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions are seeing a surge in arrivals of athletes and officials for the upcoming China's 15th National Games.
The Games, scheduled to run from Nov 9 to 21 and to be held across 105 venues in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, feature 34 sports with 419 events in the competitive program and 23 sports with 166 events in the mass participation program.
More than 20,000 athletes are set to compete in the final phase.
On Thursday, Wushu athletes from east China's Fujian Province and members of Hong Kong's delegation, including athletes and technical officials, arrived in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.
The Guangzhou competition zone has so far handled arrivals and departures for about 1,600 groups of participants, organizers said.
In Shenzhen, Guangdong, teams competing in basketball, gymnastics and swimming have also begun arriving.
The city's airport has handled more than 1,600 competition-related flights and over 5,600 passengers linked to the Games.
At the Hengqin border checkpoint in Zhuhai City, around 1,300 athletes and staff have entered through special channels designated for the event as of Thursday, according to border authorities.
With the opening ceremony approaching, designated hotels for the 15th National Games, along with the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games, in Guangzhou are stepping up final preparations.
"We've prepared high-calorie meals for technical officials who have intense daily activities, and we've extended buffet service hours according to their schedules. Our dinner buffet, which used to close at 22:00, is now open until 23:30 in certain parts," said Peng Weidong, manager at a hotel in Guangzhou.
The National Games, held every four years, is China's highest level and largest national multi-sports event. The last edition in 2021 saw over 12,000 athletes compete in the northwestern province of Shaanxi.
China's upcoming 15th National Games build momentum as athletes arrive in host cities
China's consumption growth continues to show resilience, with millions of new restaurants opening last year, underscoring robust demand in the domestic catering sector, said Zhang Yichen, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Zhang, who is CEO of CITIC Capital and chairs the master franchise of McDonald's China, told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that 3.5 million new restaurants opened across the country last year, including about 1,000 new McDonald's outlets annually.
At this year's "two sessions," Zhang urged policymakers to introduce measures that would encourage dine-in consumption, linking the restaurant boom to broader efforts to sustain domestic demand.
"This is the amazing resilience of the Chinese economy and Chinese enterprises overall. It's that you have another 3.5 million restaurants, new restaurants, opened," he said.
Zhang believes the key challenge now is reviving in-person dining and shopping to sustain long-term consumption growth.
"In the short term we're actually gaining from that. But in the long run, I believe overall the industry will suffer and the economy will suffer. That's why I brought up the issue and I'm so glad that the government is clearly agreeing with my views. The fact that we're (McDonald's China) opening 1000 restaurants a year and the fact that there are new restaurants still doing very well, it's a clear indication there is consumption power, you just have to find them," he said.
The "two sessions" are the annual meetings of China's supreme organ of state power, the National People's Congress (NPC), and the top political advisory body, the CPPCC. Both bodies serve five-year terms and hold a plenary session each year.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC opened in Beijing on March 5 and March 4, respectively.
Zhang’s remarks underscore both the resilience of China's consumer market and the need for policies to secure sustained demand, a key focus of this year’s "two sessions."
CPPCC member seeks measures to boost dine-in consumption as China's demand stays resilient
