China Hits the Spotlight Again

China Hits the Spotlight Again

People in China have just returned from their first long national holiday for the year.

The past 8-days holiday, known as “Golden Week”, drew lots of attention outside of China given most countries are still attempting to manage COVID-19. Countless hundreds of millions of Chinese people were photographed enjoying freedoms as they holidayed across popular Chinese tourist destinations. Various news agencies reported on the grand celebration of China’s “Golden Week” admiring the country’s success in containing the virus and the confidence that is being generated to boost its economy.

Photo Source: Getty Images

It has been widely reported that more than 637 million people travelled within China during the 8-day holiday. The government estimates around 466 billion yuan (US$68.6 billion) in tourism revenue was generated during the holiday period.

In transportation:

1. Air Routes

• China Eastern airlines alone added 1,644 flights, with its total flights scheduled for the holidays reaching 24,202 meaning its transport capacity has resumed the same levels as last year;
• Flight bookings for the holiday were up 11% compared with 2019, according to a report from travel data and analytics agency Cirium;

a total of 14,941 civil aviation flights catering for 1.67 million passengers were scheduled on the final day of the holidays, October 8.

2. Highways

• China’s expressways witnessed heavy traffic jams starting on September 30, the day before the holidays;
• The government removed all tolls in a bid to help traffic flow, making it free for holiday makers to drive of motorways across China;
• Massive traffic jams occurred on Chinese highways this year with an average of 51 million highway trips per day for each day of the eight-day holiday, an increase of up to 3% compared with last year, according to the Transport Ministry.

3. Railways

• China’s railway operator, China State Railway Group, claimed a total of 108 million train rides were made between September 28 and October 8;
• To cope with the increased Mid-Autumn Festival (which fell on October 1) demand, an additional 1,200 trains were added to service, with all tickets along popular routes snapped up quickly.

Hangzhou East Railway Station Photo Credit: Long Wei | VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

In Consumption:

• Revenues from the cinema box office reached 696 billion yuan (US$551.996 million) between October 1 to October 7, making it the second highest takings for the National Day holiday in China’s cinema box office history;
• Wholesale and retail industry daily sales income increased 14.1% compared with the same period last year;
• According to com, tourism-related transactions increased 90% compared with the 2020 May Day holiday, with a 130% growth in transactions.

This National Day holiday was like no other for Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late December. The city’s government planned more than 140 events, including exhibitions and carnivals, to help bring a spirit joy back into the lives of residents and tourists during the holiday.

Visitors wearing protective mask walk in the grounds of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, China, on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. More than eight months after Covid-19 emerged in the industrial hub of 11 million, Wuhan is, perhaps more emphatically than anywhere else, moving into a post-virus future. Photographer: Yan Cong/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, announced in September it would open nearly 400 of its tourist attractions for tourists for free until the end of 2020. According to the state-run Hubei Daily, more than 3.74 million tickets for tourist sites in Wuhan were booked in just over a month. Wuhan has become a popular destination for Chinese tourists since the lockdown was lifted in April. According to Ctrip, the Yellow Crane Tower, a famous landmark of Wuhan, topped the list of the most sought-after attractions for Golden Week.

All the indicators reveal domestic consumption and confidence continues to increase. Through this Golden Week, China sent a strong signal to the world that the virus is controllable. It also demonstrated having the confidence to boost its economy.

According to statistics from market research institute IHSMarkit, China’s export share in the second quarter accounted for 20% of all global exports, up 7% compared with the same period last year. “It shows that China is still the world factory. The world needs China more than ever before,” says the Vanguard newspaper.

Related:

• National Day Holiday Might Save China

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