[HONG KONG] People took an estimated 657 million passenger trips during this year’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday, up 3 per cent year on year, China’s state broadcaster reported, with the indicator closely watched as a barometer of Chinese consumer confidence.
Consumption in the world’s second-largest economy has suffered amidst sputtering growth and a prolonged property crisis, while uncertainty from the US-China trade war has also affected consumer confidence.
The Dragon Boat Festival took place from May 31 to Jun 2 – and is celebrated throughout the country with local dragon boat races and many people taking the opportunity to have a short holiday.
There were an average of 219 million domestic trips per day, broadcaster CCTV said late on Monday (Jun 2), with both China’s rail and air volumes seeing robust passenger flow.
Cross border trips rose 2.7 per cent to 5.9 million, with a total of 231,000 foreign nationals entering the country visa-free during the holiday.
China has been expanding its visa policy, with citizens of 43 countries granted visa-free access, while visa-free transit for up to 240 hours in China is available for 54 countries.
Rail lines saw the peak of return passenger flow on Jun 2, with authorities adding 1,279 trains to more than 11,000 passenger trains overall across the country, while road travel was up 3 per cent year on year, with 600 million travellers recorded, mostly travelling short distances.
The holiday also boosted spending on entertainment, with total box office revenue reaching 460 million yuan (S$83 million), surpassing last year’s 384 million yuan, according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan.
Tom Cruise’s latest movie Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning topped charts, and generated 228 million yuan, half of the total revenue during the holiday period, which was seen as a positive indicator for the upcoming summer season. REUTERS