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China has wrapped up its National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays with impressive numbers.
Nearly 900 million domestic trips were taken over the eight-day break, driving spending to a record-breaking level.
What do numbers really reveal about China's booming holiday economy?
And how are technology, culture and policy working together to boost tourism and consumer spending?
Welcome to World Today, a news program with a different perspective.
I'm Xu Yaveng in Beijing.
In today's program, we'll explore emerging consumption trends sparked by China's Golden Week holiday.
To listen to this episode again or catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
China's National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays have concluded and the numbers are impressive.
A total of 888 million trips were made during the eight-day holiday period, a jump of 16 over the previous year.
Domestic tourism revenue reached over 800 billion yuan, approximately 113 billion up 15 year-on-year.
These figures highlight a strong rebound in consumer activity and travel within China, signaling a key indicator for domestic demand, tourism and public confidence in the economy.
In today's program we will explore new consumption trends, the role of cultural tourism, the influence of technology and the policy measures driving this surge in spending, and whether this momentum will carry into the final quarters of the year.
Joining me are three distinguished guests Professor John Gong, Professor with University of International Business and Economics.
Mr Sabu Butt, founder and CEO of China Trading Desk.
And Professor Dai Li, associate professor in development economics in Hunan University.
First of all, let's start with the most interesting question by asking how did you spend the eight-day super golden week holiday?
Professor Goh and Professor Dai, did you join the 240 million daily travelers out there and have some fun?
Yes, I did.
I traveled abroad.
I was in Russia for a few days in Sochi, and then I went on to Uzbekistan, visited Tashkent and Samarkand, spent four days there.
It's a great trip.
Get to know a bit about Central Asian countries.
Uzbekistan has a It's a great history and interesting places to visit.
I have to say that I probably didn't spend much domestically, but I spent tons of money internationally.
Well, that's a very interesting choice because, you know, normally during such a long day holiday, we have eight days break.
People probably will, you know, travel to Southeast Asian countries or Europe.
But now like Central Asia also come to the picture.
How about you, Professor Dai?
What did you do during your holiday?
Did you visit any special places or experience any unique activities?
Well, thank you for the questions.
Well, I have a young child and a toddler, so we didn't take any long trips like Dr. Gong did.
However, we did join the crowd in the city of Changsha, where I was based, and had a great time exploring all the activities the city had to offer during the holiday.
So maybe one day trip here and another day trip around the other part of the city.
Mr. Bhatt, you're based in Singapore, right?
We know it's an island nation where it's possible to drive across the entire country in less than an hour.
So, with that in mind, consider this like during China's National Day holiday, 888 million trips were made during the October 1st and October 8th.
What do you think this say about the growth of China's tourism sector and this well-organized public transportation system? yeah you're absolutely right you know singapore is so small and it's it's so easy to get from one end to the other so when you read numbers like this uh it's just mind-boggling right and then i think only one country can pull this off with such a feat so for me i think two things stood out you know first is obviously the scale and the demand uh right uh 888 uh triple fortune such a nice number but uh it's very uh interesting to see that so many domestic trips were made within this eight days and uh you know so much billions being spent um so it's not i think it's it's a structural growth engine now so tourism is central to the growth and it's not just a post-covid uh you know operation or a blip that we thought it was and it's also a clear uh conference uh that you know your mainland our consumers right now are spending more even if per capita spending remains a bit prudent second point i think is the system a message to more people at this speed is also very admirable right um rail set an all-time single-day record of more than 23 million on the first day and i think that undermines how china's high-speed rail backbone is absorbing people right and this is this backbone is you know it's going to extend to more than 50 000 kilometers so it's going to make it even more easier for people to flex on their holiday travel.
I think from a Singapore lens.
I think the headline for me is that we're not supporting coordination.
So huge travel, latent travel appetite matched by a transport grid that can stay on demand.
And that's why tourism is acting as a stabilizer for both.
Professor Gong.
So when we look at the number here 888 million domestic trips and 809 billion yuan in spending that's a 16 and 15 increase respectively compared to last year.
What do you think these figures tell us about China's evolving consumption patterns?
And how do you see this booming holiday economy aligned with the broader shift toward a consumption-driven growth model?
If you look at the consumption figures during this holiday season over the years in China, you know the trend is very clear.
Barring the special cases during the COVID days, it has been a steady upward trend.
And I think this represents the overall trajectory of travel related expenditures, as the economy expands and people's living standards get more and more lifted.
It's a natural phenomenon.
I mean after feeding your family, and the next thing you want to do is to go around and see the rest of the world.
So I think you know, as people get better off and more disposable income, there's a natural trend towards spending more money on travels.
And I would even argue that the future is towards traveling and spending more internationally and going out of the country.
So I think, you know, this is something to be expected.
Nothing surprising here.
It also shows that portion of the GDP that is related to service is getting a steady lift.
And partially contributed by you know expenditures like this.
During the holiday season, people you know spend on travel, vacation and other expenses related to that.
So I think it's a trend we're going to continue to see.
And I think it also shows great opportunities for many other countries around the world especially, I would say, you know, countries that are kind of a sort of exotic that people haven't heard much about.
Like the example that I just mentioned Uzbekistan, you know I bet not many people in China know have even heard of Uzbekistan and asking what's the capital city of Uzbekistan?
My guess is that a lot of people don't know about it.
But looking back in history, it used to be a great civilization.
I mean, it was a big empire in Central Asia.
I think about four or five hundred years ago.
You know, it was a big empire, on the same scale as the Ottoman Empire.
So in the Mongolian Empire, it was more like the derivative thing for the Mongolian Empire.
And it's a great history.
People are very proud of it.
So I get a history lesson there.
And I think more things like this will happen to a lot of people here in China that they would like to spend Time and money on these countries in the future.
So I think this provides a great opportunities for many other countries around the world to attract Chinese travelers during the holiday season.
So I think so this is a good thing for the rest of the year world.
Actually, this year, inbounds and outbound travelers have both surged during a day holiday break.
That, demonstrating that the Golden Week holiday is not a factor that driven domestic consumption, but also for international tourist markets as well.
Then, Professor Dai, data shows that nearly 80% of travel during a holiday was by self-driving.
Was this a surprise to you to learn that 8 out of 10 people choose to travel by car?
And what do you think are the key factors behind self-driving becoming the dominant mode of travel this holiday?
Well, thank you for the question, and the figure indeed look very surprising to me, but i believe this is true because if you look at the traffic jam, so you can definitely agree to this statement.
Um well, i think infrastructure you know a lot of people will mention infrastructure like highways Roads, service or charging station has definitely played a key role in this shift toward driving.
Well, take myself as an example.
I'm an electric vehicle owner, so an EV owner, and can now drive almost everywhere in China and always find a charging station, which wasn't possible just 10 years ago.
Another factor is that I think it's people's preferences.
So Dr. Gong just mentioned, you know, exhorted places abroad.
I totally agree with him.
On top of that, I think we also have a lot of hidden gems within China, isn't it?
If you look at the traveling patterns of people or some of the posts or notes published in social media, you'll find that people are diversifying the travel choices.
Previously, like 10 years ago, you always see people go to Shanghai or Beijing or some other places.
But now, if you go to the internet and ask people where they have been to, they will basically tell you that, instead of flocking into big city that are easily to reach by public transport.
More people are visiting smaller towns or villages on less populated area.
You know the hidden gem or exalted places mentioned by Dr Gong.
I think this also.
On top of that, this smaller market are thriving and people in smaller town and villages in China tend to own their own car now.
And in fact a recent article in The Economist pointed out that in smaller town people's willingness to travel and to spend is even higher than in large cities.
So as a consequences, I think the number, so eight out of 10 people are driving right now.
I think this basically demonstrate that people are going to more remote places, to those whole hidden gems.
And also there are some new drivers.
Um, you know, stop to travel.
Yeah and, as you said, like the free access to the highway and also the upgraded charging services being made available for people who decided to self-driving during a holiday could be the factors that boosting the self-driving as the dominant choice for their travel.
And Mr Butt.
So during the holidays we have also noticed that technology played a key role in shaping new cultural tourism experiences.
Here's an example.
So in Shenzhen, the city hosted Robot Parade and Human Machine Interactive Games, And Nanchang, in Jiangxi province, illuminated the night sky with 5000 drones.
And here in Beijing, where I'm based, it showcased AI-driven restaurants.
How do you see this?
Cultural tourism plus tech model, changing away consumer experience and engage with tourism?
And do you think this tech-enabled experiences actually drive consumer loyalty and spending?
Yes, I think absolutely it does.
It escalates in that experience.
So I was just reading up on some news.
I saw that AMAP had almost 360 million people using it every day, you know, from the start of the Golden Week.
And they pushed more than 1 billion yen of travel-adjacent footfalls.
You know that's like discovery, footfall and then transactions all in one loop, which is a single app right.
So it's expecting those destinations and trends spectacles with AI-guided navigations, booking membership, more repeat customers that's going to be better than just one and done sightseeing.
So technology would definitely help in doing that for the forefront about tourism, about this own view on this week was that non-travelers are gravitating to places with local life.
As Dr Day was saying, you know, more rural culture favors local life, more places that are small, you know, to your four, to your five cities, and with a clear text edge, it just blends these experiences together.
I think it's a new product market fit for Chinese domestic tourism.
Professor Gong, I want to have a follow-up question for you here.
As Mr Bai just pointed out, the tech-enabled tourism.
Do you think the tech-driven experiences can become a new reason attracting foreign visitors to China?
For instance, foreign visitors will be more likely to choose China as the destination because of these unique tech cultural mixes.
I think this is pushing the envelope, pushing the new frontier of tourism.
You know, tech related experiences is definitely something of tremendous interest to a lot of tourists, I think, including foreign tourists as well.
And it's good to see that China is moving at the forefront of this.
And I think it's pretty clear that you know our country's development of AI technologies is growing.
I mean we're engaged in intense competition with the United States, particularly around the AI front.
And it's not surprising to see that many companies were moving in that direction and developing great technologies, great products related to that.
Certainly, the tourism industry is no exception.
So all kinds of interesting ideas, technologies are being developed to attract tourism.
This is capitalism at work here.
So I'm not surprised that more and more tourists are attracted to this kind of experiences.
And I would even say that combining these experiences with the traditional tourism ideas and spots is probably a very good combination.
I've already seen something myself like this.
So you know, I think for example at those probably very famous tourist spots in China.
Usually there's a kind of a show, right.
You can go watch a theme show, essentially.
It's a theme show.
It's a grandiose show, usually costs maybe 200 yuan or something like that.
And in these shows, more and more new technologies are being applied, are being incorporated into the show.
I've seen plenty of these things in the past.
And even we're starting to see the incorporation of these drones into the show.
And that's a tremendous experience.
You don't see this kind of things in many places around the world.
And here in China, we're starting to see more and more of these things.
So I think it's a great development and it should attract more tourists.
It just enriches the experience when you visit a place.
It's more than just a Go and visit some historical places architectures, historic architectural relics.
More than that kind of experience.
It's a combination of the past and the present. ancient stuff with modern technologies.
And it's a great experience.
And I will strongly recommend that.
Professor Dai, we have seen entertainment, especially movies, become an increasingly vital part of this holiday economy.
And data shows that the fuel market this year generated 18 billion yuan during the eight-day holiday.
And the concept of ticket economy, where every one yuan spent on the movie ticket stimulates an additional five yuan in spending on restaurants.
Travel and shopping has become a key trend.
So what's your assessment of this film plus tourism model?
How is it impacting the local economy and how is it reshaping China's broader cultural and consumption landscape?
Thank you.
This is a very interesting question.
I think entertainment, especially cinema, play a very significant role in driving local economic growth.
When people go out to watch a movie, they are not just spending on the ticket.
They also tend to spend on what we call complimentary activity, like dining, shopping or socializing with a friend or families.
So this could create a ripple effect that benefit a wider range of local businesses.
And basically well, this basically remind me of a campaign in post-pandemic Britain where the governments eat out to help out initiative encourage people to dine at a restaurant in order to help the businesses.
So the concept here is very similar by encouraging people to go out and spend more spend on one form of entertainment.
So the actor will also see a boost and, as you know that china we have a very robust or very thriving online shopping um, you know patterns, but so basically you can stay at home.
You know everything, or every tangible good or even services is one click away, so people will not basically make any quotes necessary and quote uh activities, um you know, outside the houses.
So with the introduction of the, like cinema or other form of entertainment, people will go out and will dine at a restaurant.
So those restaurants and other businesses will definitely benefit.
Mr. Batt, Professor Li mentioned how movies are turning locations into hotspots.
Like if a film shoots in a small town, tourists float in.
And so, from a market like consumer market view, have you seen brands in these movie famous towns capitalizing on the hype?
Like.
For example, are they launching say, limited edition products or partnering with film studios to keep the consumption momentum going after the holiday?
Yeah, I think certainly they're doing that.
All right.
Again, this comes back to the tech enabled tourism plus all year round consumption that needs to happen instead of just only specific to three or four big holidays that happens.
So bringing in additional souvenirs and memorables to the market to be able to enable people to continue having that connection with the destinations makes it even more easier for people to actually appreciate the culture and these location-specific activities.
Well, Professor Gong, let's look at the policy measures in pushing the domestic consumption during the holiday season.
We know, in late September the Chinese government rolled out over 29000 cultural tourism activities and subsidies amounting to 480 million yuan.
In addition to that, during the holiday some local governments opened their canteens, so tourists provide affordable meals.
How did these people-friendly policies help stimulate consumer confidence and drive spending?
Okay.
Well, first of all, I think the you know 480 million yuan you mentioned from the central government.
I think this is a drop in the bucket.
It doesn't mean anything in my view.
It's a small amount of money in the grand scheme of things, you know, compared to the total size of the tourism-related expenditures.
Nevertheless, I would still argue that, you know, the competition in the marketplace is by local governments is just fierce in China.
You know you can talk to.
Actually I did.
I did talk to a few local government officials in charge of the tourism industry and the intense pressure from the government tried to win.
You know, tourists win business for their, for their districts, for their cities.
And everybody is doing things out of their way, going out of the way to try to make them prominent on the national scene.
And they have done many creative things over time.
And you probably have already heard plenty of stories of that nature.
In tourism area.
I would say the local governments are like companies competing on the market and they compete fiercely and doing a lot of creative things.
The example you mentioned offered affordable meals.
I think this is just one example of making the travel experience more convenient, more interesting, more attractive and just make things easier for people.
Think about this.
I mean, this is not philanthropy.
I mean, the government is not doing this just for philanthropy.
I mean, they're actually doing this in the hope of more people coming, right?
And more people will save the money on a few meals to spend instead on something else locally, to have the money to be injected into the local economy.
So in a way, you can view this as kind of an investment, essentially.
So, And everybody is, every local government is doing creative things of their own, try to attract, try to compete in a market, try to attract tourists.
I've been to places that are not very famous, but they deliver a very good experience.
You know, you learn a little bit of a history, a little town in Anhui province.
And the striking thing is that they actually waved The tickets in some places.
I think you know we're starting to see a trend towards the lowering price of the tickets of the touristy places used to be pretty high.
Definitely based on my experience, I traveled extensively overseas based on my experience.
You know, you look at ticket price here in China compared to ticket prices in many other countries around the world, think overall.
You know it's it's pretty high here in china, but i think there's a trend towards um, lowering that ticket prices.
They offer this all kinds of discounts and in some cases an outright waiver.
So uh um, and i think this is all because of the market, competition and the governments are starting to realize that.
You know, by lowering ticket prices you get more people come to visit and more money injected into the local economy And eventually it turns out tax, turns out to be tax revenues more tax revenues for the local governments.
So it's actually a win win formula for them.
So I think this is an interesting trend that's happening.
I think.
In short, you know, this is really a story of market competition, and particularly a market competition stood and played by local governments, interestingly.
Professor Gong, you talk about the 480 million yuan, the subsidies amount, wasn't that enough?
But how about this batch of the 69 billion yuan like?
This is the ultra long-term special bond garment bonds to support a consumer goods trading program.
And this is the last batch of the such bonds that Chinese government released before the Golden Week holiday.
How significant do you think these policy interventions are in stimulating consumption?
No, I'm not saying it's not enough.
I wouldn't argue that the central government is spending a lot of money on this.
I'm just saying that the money they did spend is actually quite small compared to the overall market scale.
Nevertheless, of course, what the central government has done really helps.
I mean, 29,000 cultural tourism activities is no small number.
And they definitely spur the market, cultivate the market, and definitely is helpful.
But ultimately, in my view, it's really the activities initiated by local governments that's driving this market.
There are hundreds of these municipalities, these local governments that are competing in the marketplace and they are doing those interesting and creative things, trying to attract more tourists.
So I think both helps, but in terms of an impact on the market, probably my bet would be more on the local government side.
Professor Dai.
So we know, during the holiday there are some stores or companies like Xiaomi.
They release this kind of new phone during the National Day holiday.
And now on top of the garments, targeted subsidies.
So how are these two working together to drive consumer spending and generate market excitement?
Well, thank you for the question.
I think these are very important indeed.
Well, not only because of release of new tangible goods, but also, just like you mentioned, there could be some cinema, right?
Some movie which are on show during the holiday.
I think those two things you know, the act by business as well as the act by the government are totally complementary.
So, you know, when we talk about customer demand, There are two core things.
One important element is we have a preference of something.
We are willing to buy something.
And the other is your ability to purchase it, which is basically the capability of buying the same.
So I think both methods, they are just working on the two key element of consumer demand.
One is the willingness and the other is the capability.
So for example, you mentioned there are some subsidy.
So I actually have the data at hand.
So, according to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, spending on category like furniture, home appliances, digital devices saw year-on-year growth of over 20 between January and August this year, while the overall retail sales grew by just 3.
So this category, the category I just mentioned furniture, home appliances and digital devices this category are directly linked to the customer good trading program.
So this show how targeted government intervention, like subsidy, can significantly drive demand in those sectors.
Actually, the program help make this product more affordable to customer on the company's campaign.
Marketing campaign, like the release of Xiaomi or other marketing campaign during the holiday, make these devices more attractive to consumers.
So together, they are likely to contribute to a very sharp increase in spending.
I've been speaking with Professor John Gong, professor with University of International Business and Economics, Mr Sabu Butt, founder and CEO of China Trading Desk, and Professor Dai Li, associate professor in development economics in Hunan University.
Let's take a short break.
When we return, we will delve into which sectors are set to drive China's holiday economy in the years ahead.
Stay with us.
Hello, my name is Alessandro Golombievski Teixeira.
I'm a professor of public policy management at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
I am a great listener of The Wall Today.
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In The Wall Today, we can get the best news and analysis in what is happening now in the world.
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Welcome back to World Today.
I'm Xu Yawen.
We have explored China's emerging consumption trends sparked by the National Day holiday.
Now let's shift the gears and discuss whether this momentum will continue into the final quarters of the year and which sectors will be the key drivers of China's holiday economy in the coming years.
Professor Dai, here's another thing.
We know during the holiday, there are some unexpected dark horse destinations go viral.
For instance, in Guizhou they have this Huajiang Canyon Bridge, which is the world's highest bridge, attracted over 100000 visitors and become a hotspot during the holiday.
Or at Jingdezhen, where tourism spiked by 60 only because the fried chicken guy on social media went viral.
What do you make of this phenomenon?
What does it tell us about the changing dynamics of China's tourism market?
Well, that's a very good question.
So if you look at the Baidu trend right, so these are the trending topics right now on social media.
I think social media has become a major enabler of the economy, especially in tourism.
So well, one concept from behavior, economic or cognitive psychology that is relevant, relevant here in the what we call ability availability, heuristic.
So social media in China, like the red nose, amplify this tendency.
So this social media allow word of mouth and viral content to have much bigger influence of consumer decisions.
And in this case, in the case you just mentioned, The viral popularity of places like the Huajiang Canyon Bridge and also there is a restaurant over there and also the Fried Chicken Guy show how social media can subtly be a destination for experiences that might have been overlooked otherwise.
So this platform, the online platform, create a sense of discovery and excitement and often help turning hidden gems into a must visit spot almost immediately or even overnight.
So I think, while we've seen a shift away from purely online shopping, the digital ecosystem is still a key driver in this offline tourism boom.
And consumers use their smartphone not only to look at ticket or book ticket or find new place to eat, but also to share their experiences on social media and make mobile payments throughout the journey.
This creates seamless connection between online discovery and offline consumption.
Basically, you can just take a mobile phone with you and you can go everywhere and enjoy your travel very much.
Well, in a way, the search in tourism during the holiday is a very perfect example of how the online to offline model works and where digital platforms fuel and also greatly enhance physical world economic activity.
So I believe social media play a crucial role in reshaping tourism patterns, making more dynamics and reactive to trends.
What you just said remind me of this AMAPS Street Sweep list.
It has emerged as the pivotal influencer of holiday consumption, with standout metrics across user engagement, consumer behavior and business impacts.
So what's your assessment of this usage of consumption and smartphones?
And so this is a very good question.
So I've heard of it, but it's basically a new rate rate of restaurant or places based on people's position.
Right.
Something like that.
I never use it, but I heard it quite a while.
So I think this is this is a very good thing, because in businesses and in economic activity we have what we call information symmetry.
So we have no idea.
Well, one of the fundamental principles of consumer behavior is that we are always looking for higher utility, the higher benefit given the fixed amount of money you are willing to pay.
So I think the app, like Gaode Shaojieba, actually is a very good tool for consumers to look for a better value for money places, you know, the places which give them higher utility.
So I think this is basically a mechanism.
So fundamentally, this is basically a mechanism to make the market more efficient so people can discover or understand where or how to spend the money in order to get the most utilities.
Based on the real feedbacks from the consumers.
You're right.
Mr Butt, many Chinese choose to travel abroad during the holiday and visit international hotspots like Switzerland Norway, Australia and Russia.
So we have noticed that data shows that over 16 million Chinese and foreign visitors cross the borders, marking an increase of 11 percent compared to last year.
And, given the global tourism recovery, how do you see China's Golden Week holiday influencing global travel and consumption beyond just the domestic tourism market?
Yeah, I mean, this is a subject we see strapping out a lot.
We have been tracking this ever since post-pandemic recovery has started.
And we do one of the largest surveys of over 15000 people who have reported to understand how they travel out and where do they want to go, etc.
And with that we had actually predicted that there's going to be about 8 to 84 million outbound trips, which is pretty much in line with the 16 million cross border that came in.
So I think we're really happy that we are being able to look at numbers with a very similar range.
So this makes China the single biggest demand shop for global travel, right in waterfalls and similarly with all the other big holidays, it has a big move that is much most believing, beyond just time.
Uh, the airlines uh, have also started to lean in on these attempts.
International frequency more around the window.
The visa has been used across the region, making it even less friction for people to travel.
The speed limit has concentrated, I believe, a lot more into short-haul Asia Singapore Malaysia, Vietnam being some of the top countries, along with Japan and Korea.
But the long haul also has spiked with nature.
Exotic locations, like what Dr Long was talking about Central Asia and Eastern Europe are some of the regions that are fast coming up.
So what is changing on the ground?
Really quite a few things, right?
So first is the shorter season uplift.
In places like Sydney, it's leaning into China as an important change, just as the spring kicks in.
Because again, the change in the direction, because of southern hemisphere, the change in weather makes it easier for people to travel there during this time, smoothing the seasonality for hotels and luxury hotels.
Then what we saw is also the digital conversion and the enable of Chinese apps working overseas, especially like UnionPay companies and Alipay, plus acceptance of merchants and perhaps even contestants browsing into transactions like, for example, in Singapore, IAP is now even accepted in grocery stores.
It's called as NPSC.
So we see a lot more business picking up these to make sure that families are able to better integrate.
Families are able to better integrate into the ecosystem.
And the last part, I believe, is enough consumption mixed towards experience.
First, and this is what we've been seeing right in our survey, we see that you know history culture nature, architecture and obviously local food forms bulk of travelers covers and they want to spend more on experiences rather than physical goods.
The next effect of all this is it's longer stays, higher spending on tours and FBs, and so it makes it even better right.
What should destinations do next?
I think, like what China has been doing, I can see Golden Week and Chinese New Year and Global Day Holidays as an epoch of stress test, especially for COVID-26.
Make sure that China facing payment and services updated for all the destinations and locations and push offers etc.
So that more people understand what is available for consumption.
And also, I think one of the last things is the lifetime economy, which has been growing quite a lot in China, but we don't see the same growth outside.
We believe that bringing this into in the mainstream across the region, which will have increased spending by the Chinese across the globe.
Professor Gong, let's unpack this holiday rush challenge together.
What do you think businesses can do to avoid the holiday rush and manage short-term demand spikes more effectively?
Yeah, this is actually an interesting question.
I think in some places in China The local economy depends on holiday expenditures or vacation expenditures.
It's something unavoidable because of weather.
I know places in Xinjiang in northeastern China.
Just because the wintertime is too cold, everything pretty much slows down and there will be no tourists during those days.
And basically you know you have about half of year, in some cases even less than four months, five months of a whole year that you can't do business, that you do see tourists coming.
And for the rest of the time, they're not going to come because of the weather.
And this is something that it's a hard truth that's difficult to avoid.
And I guess, for those people, for those businesses in those regions, you know, I guess the issue is to understand, maximize the income during the holiday season, during the vacation season, so as to weather through the off-peak time, so to speak.
But in other areas, in other cities, you know it's still very much, you know the local economy still very much goes on.
I think this reminds me of the city of Hai being It's a big city in the Northeast China.
It has a unique culture.
You can clearly see the influence of the Russian culture there in that city.
And the challenge for that city is to say that during the off holiday, off vacation season, how do you leverage the tourist economy during the peak period right?
And, you know, I think the local.
I mean the experience in harping clearly says so.
You know they're starting to attract, you know, tourists during the winter time.
And now in the summertime, they also try to create tourist activities.
So this is a very good example of how to leverage the off-peak traffic to contribute to the economic activities during the off-peak time.
I think many local governments are doing different things, creative things.
So one thing that people start to talk about is how to avoid the trap of sort of like a one-time social media hotspot.
And then you get other people who come to visit, and then the fad passes away and the city is just forgotten by society.
I think, how do you actually sustain that momentum is a big challenge.
Another city that I can think of is a city in Zhibo in Shandong Province, which is noted for its barbecued food.
It was very hot for a period of time, but now it seems like the fat seems to fade away.
So I think, how to sustain that, how to keep the momentum, how to perpetuate this kind of a fat?
It is a challenge.
I think I would leave that to experts to think about creative ways how to do this.
I mean, these are media experts, you know, advertising experts, marketing experts.
I mean, they have ways of how to actually maintain this kind of a phenomenon.
But overall, I think it's a challenge.
It's a big challenge.
So let's be honest with that.
Professor Dai, do you have a response to what Professor Gong just mentioned?
How can businesses or cities maintain momentum after the holiday consumption surge?
And how should they address the challenges?
Well, this is a very challenging task for the government and also a very challenging question to me, to myself actually.
Well personally, I believe if you look at the history of businesses and economy, there are a lot of things which are created or established by China era.
People spend money and the project will go bankrupt and this happened already.
This is inevitable phenomenon.
But yes, there are stories being told that in China, a lot of you know, the local government spent a lot of money.
You know, for example, build Asian towns something like you know traditional, try to, you know, get the traditional picture of the town to the tourism, but it failed.
I think this is natural on the one hand, but on the other hand, I think you know previously, you know a lot of government or businesses.
They are basically what we call supply driven right.
We supply the same and, you know, with the hope that the consumer will arrive.
But as you can see from the golden week holiday, right?
So you mentioned a lot of very fancy activity and a lot of things happening on social media.
I would categorize this thing as demand driven, right?
People are like to see, you know, they like to see all these things.
So I think one thing that we can do, well, that basically depends on who you're talking about.
If you're talking about businesses, I think a business can spend more time learning the changing dynamics of the market, as well as the changing preferences or taste of the consumer.
So, you know, for the government as well, you know, you listen to your customer.
Because take Changsha as an example.
Changsha is a very famous.
We call it some.
You know, it's a phenomenon.
You know city right Wanghong we call it Wanghongchengshi.
So it's become viral on the internet for its cheap residency and friendly environment.
But now it basically shift its focus to attract the younger generation, right?
So to persuade people to come up with a policy, to persuade people to stay, to leave and to spend.
So I think this is a very good initiative.
So you need to listen to what customer want or to basically research into the changing pace in order to meet the demand.
So that's what I think.
And Mr Bhatt.
Lastly, looking ahead, which sectors such as transportation, tourism or consumer goods will be key drivers of China's holiday economy in the coming years?
Right.
I think there's a few different ones that will really have to access a force multiplier for the economy, i think.
First is transport and mobility.
Uh right so, like i mentioned in the beginning, ic green is set to clear almost uh 50 000 kilometers in 2025, so this is keeping the capacity ahead of, uh you know, peak demand.
Um is going to help.
At the same time, uh ev road flipping is exploding um, As charging stations have grown more than 50 year-on-year.
The highway charging has set new costs during this holiday.
So things will go further from that.
As you mentioned about the platform like AMAP, which stitches the journey together through AR, helping them perform, has seen tremendous success during this holiday.
So that's going to reach mobility and transport will certainly help.
The second, I would say the culture and attraction.
Cultural attraction and nighttime is one of them, right.
So we would be expecting more immersive those more tech dream routes and late night venues with you know a more round, you know shows.
Recently I saw a review of more than 10000 drones being used in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, during the night time holiday.
So I think there's going to be more and more to be done in Google Shows that's going to come up especially at night time, to increase the night time economy, right.
And this is going to actually make over 40 billion dollars.
Outdoor and tourism uh, sports tourism is also something that that is uh expected to be quite a significant driver.
All right, so the policy is also quite explicit.
Uh right uh, there is almost 8 million uh yuan to be spent by the industry.
To be biased, there's going to be more than 100 high quality outdoor decisions.
So this is We're going to have things like marathons, ice skating, water sports and cities to be a repeatable boat event and tourist attraction.
Lastly, I would say that local service and FB, powered by platforms like AirMaps and Lake Run, will help to make sure that we get this on the head of our travelers all the time.
With that, we're wrapping up today's program.
I've been speaking with Professor Zhang Gong, professor with University of International Business and Economics, Sabu Butt, founder and CEO of China Trading Desk, and Professor Dai Li, associate professor in the development economics in Hunan University.
To listen to this episode again or catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
For further discussion, you can follow us on X at CGTN Radio.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now.
