Xinhua Viewpoint丨Cultural tourism consumption heats up and market vitality is released——A review of the consumer market during the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival | Holidays | Warming up market

Beijing, September 18th, Title: Cultural tourism consumption heats up and market vitality is released - Review of the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday

Xinhua Viewpoint reporters Wei Yukun, Wang Yuxiao and Zhang Bowen

The sweet osmanthus is fragrant, the moon is bright, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival again.

Train stations and airports are bustling with people, popular tourist attractions are packed, and cinemas and theaters are packed...During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, 107 million people traveled domestically, with a total expenditure of 51.047 billion yuan. The "crowds" drove the "popularity", forming a beautiful scroll of a flowing China, reflecting the steady and progressive development trend of the Chinese economy.

At 6 pm on September 15, at the Gate 3 Square of Beijing Garden Expo Park, a folk performance with the theme of "Moonlight Reflecting Elegant Music and Mid-Autumn Festival Feelings" opened with warm applause from the audience. The folk music percussion "Dragon Soaring and Tiger Leaping" had sonorous drum beats, and the audience was still immersed in the melody after the song was played.

On the same evening, the "Double Osmanthus Moon-Only Mid-Autumn Festival" garden party held in Liangping District, Chongqing, attracted many citizens to participate. "My friend and I wore Hanfu to experience the garden party, and we also made lacquer fans by ourselves," said Ms. Chen, a citizen.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, many places across the country launched a variety of cultural activities based on traditional customs and innovative cultural scenes to better meet the needs of consumers.

At the Fangyan Temple Fair held in the Fangyan Scenic Spot in Yongkang, Zhejiang, villagers dressed in traditional costumes, held large flags, and performed cross-jump formations, long stick solo training, short stick duels, and other martial arts performances.

At Harbin Ice and Snow World in Heilongjiang, tourists can exchange poems with the parade performers dressed as Chang'e, and those who succeed can receive a free ancient lantern.

In Yangzhou, Jiangsu, the ancient bridges and buildings on the Slender West Lake are lit up at night. On the shore, immersive experience activities such as ancient style games and poetry interactions allow citizens to encounter Chinese aesthetics under the moon...

Travel data shows that there is a strong demand for lantern festivals and garden tours. According to Didi Chuxing data, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Beijing Garden Expo Park, Kunming Grand View Park, and Guangzhou Cultural Park held Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festivals, and taxi demand increased by 340%, 155%, and 82% respectively compared to the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The Wansui Mountain Wuxia City Scenic Area in Kaifeng, Henan Province, held a Mid-Autumn Festival special concert, and taxi demand increased by 152%.

On September 17, people watched the moon by the Taihu Lake in Dingshu Town, Yixing City, Jiangsu Province.

Xu Guangjian, a professor at the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, said that various regions took the opportunity of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival to deeply explore the cultural connotations of poetry, songs, etiquette and customs, actively create new cultural products and new business formats, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture.

During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the domestic consumer market continued to show its vitality.

Relevant monitoring data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that during the three-day holiday, the sales of key monitored catering enterprises nationwide increased by 6.5% year-on-year, and the sales of green organic food and communication equipment of key monitored enterprises increased by 18.1% and 5.7% year-on-year respectively; the national online retail sales of physical goods increased by 8.9% year-on-year.

Eating mooncakes is an essential part of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, the mooncake market has become more "simple", with many gift boxes having no more than three layers. The weight of mooncakes has also been reduced, with small packages and mini mooncakes becoming the new favorite in the market.

"Bulk small mooncakes are very affordable, the flavors and quantities can be freely combined, and the price is reasonable." said Mr. Li, who came to buy mooncakes at a large supermarket in Chuzhou, Anhui.

Pang Chaoran, an associate researcher at the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said that consumers have gradually changed from blindly pursuing luxury in the past to paying more attention to quality and taste, and mooncakes, a traditional festival food, are returning to their cultural connotations and essential meanings.

The consumer market is becoming more rational and personalized. According to Meituan data, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the number of group purchase orders for "Mid-Autumn Festival" and "Reunion" themed restaurants increased more than five times compared with the same period last year, and dine-in orders increased by nearly 20%; the number of leisure camping orders increased by 312% year-on-year, and the number of DIY workshop orders increased by 136.8% year-on-year. According to JD.com data, low-sugar mooncakes are very popular. For example, the transaction volume of low-sugar five-kernel mooncakes increased by 45% year-on-year; cost-effective liquor is sought after by consumers. In the survey, more consumers choose liquor with a unit price of 100 to 300 yuan.

"Holiday consumption is a window for observing economic vitality. During the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, there was an obvious trend of rational and personalized consumption, indicating that my country's economic structure continues to optimize, and gradually forms a higher level of dynamic balance in which demand drives supply and supply creates demand." Pang Chaoran said.

The trend of cultural and tourism integration is obvious, and short-distance travel has become the mainstream

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the rolling sand dunes and the magnificent Yellow River attracted many tourists to Shapotou, a tourist attraction in Zhongwei, Ningxia. Cui Lu, who came from Chengdu, Sichuan, accompanied her parents to experience camel riding and flying in the desert in Shapotou. "It was unforgettable to feel the desert customs and traditional Chinese culture with my family."

The tourism market continues to be hot. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Data Center, during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, 107 million people traveled domestically, an increase of 6.3% over the same period in 2019 on a comparable basis; the total expenditure of domestic tourists was 51.047 billion yuan, an increase of 8.0% over the same period in 2019.

The integration of culture and tourism is a highlight. According to data from Fliggy, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the search popularity of moon-viewing tours and lantern-viewing tours increased by 61% and 267% year-on-year respectively. Theme activities such as the Beijing Garden Expo Park "Beijing Lantern Festival" and the Chengdu Wuhou Temple Moon Worship and Blessing Ceremony have become popular attractions for moon-viewing tours and lantern-viewing tours during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"Micro-vacations" and short-distance travel have become the mainstream of the holiday. Reporters have found that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is characterized by short- and medium-distance travel, and "micro-vacations" in and around the city are very popular. Ctrip data shows that during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, hotel orders in the same province account for more than 50%.

Outbound travel continued to grow at a high rate. Fliggy data showed that the number of outbound travel bookings during the Mid-Autumn Festival continued to grow on the basis of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the number of overseas tickets, overseas local entertainment, and international cruise bookings all maintained double-digit growth compared with the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.

"The emphasis on cultural experience and personalized services is the outstanding feature of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival tourism market. The thriving holiday tourism market demonstrates the new vitality of China's economic development," said Xu Guangjian.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the film market was well supplied. According to statistics from the State Administration of Film, the national box office during the Mid-Autumn Festival was 389 million yuan, with 9.57 million moviegoers. The box office of domestic films was 332 million yuan, accounting for 85.35%. There were various types of films such as "The Wandering Earth 2", "Wild Child" and "Determination to Run Away".

The popularity of "cultural and museum tours" continues to rise. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, museums across the country have "updated" their own exhibitions: Chongqing Bayu Folk Museum held a theme garden tour activity "Dreaming of the Past and Present - Museum Mid-Autumn Night", through the display exhibitions that blend the past and the present, intangible cultural heritage performances and folk consumption experiences, allowing citizens and tourists to immerse themselves in the ancient night tour scene; in the Changsha Bamboo Slips Museum, children dressed in Hanfu, immersed in the atmosphere of ancient reading in the "ancient study"; Hangzhou Museum invited tourists to make lotus lanterns by hand on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival.

On September 17, tourists visited the Beijing Big Bell Temple Ancient Bell Museum. Photo by reporter Xing Guangli

According to Ctrip data, the number of museum ticket orders during the Mid-Autumn Festival increased by 15% compared to the Dragon Boat Festival. According to Meituan data, the Hubei Provincial Museum and the Qin and Han Museum of the Shaanxi History Museum have become popular holiday check-in destinations.

The "new Chinese style" consumption, which focuses on in-depth experience of traditional culture, is booming. According to Meituan data, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the number of orders for "new Chinese style" themed packages at teahouses increased by 550% year-on-year, the number of searches for "intangible cultural heritage handicrafts" increased by 373% year-on-year, and the number of searches for "state guesthouses" increased by 11% month-on-month.

"Overall, this Mid-Autumn Festival holiday has diverse cultural activities, rich folk experiences, a vibrant and popular consumer market, and the holiday economy is gaining new vitality," said Pang Chaoran.