Watch a "snowy" movie, have a New Year's Eve dinner with family and friends, take a trip to go, and buy goods around the Year of the Dragon...... 2023 is about to enter the countdown, is your sense of New Year's Eve ritual full?
The popularity of travel has increased by 10 times
Xiao Chen, a white-collar worker in Shenzhen, told China-Singapore Jingwei that he had come on a "walk-and-go trip" this New Year's Eve, and was riding 480 kilometers in Hainan with his friends. "We arrived in Haikou after work on the 29th, started riding early in the morning on the 30th, went to Lingshui on the 31st, and rode to Sanya on New Year's Day. I have enjoyed outdoor sports such as hiking and mountaineering this year, and I hope to use this way to celebrate the New Year's Eve. ”
Many consumers like Xiao Chen choose to spend their long vacations in the form of travel. Fliggy data shows that travel bookings for the 2024 New Year's Day holiday have increased by nearly 10 times compared to the same period in 2023. Among them, the number of train ticket bookings increased sharply year-on-year, and Beijing-Harbin, Shanghai-Nanjing, Shenzhen-Guangzhou, Guangzhou-Changsha, Chengdu-Chongqing, etc. are popular "high-speed rail tour" routes. As of 18 December, most of the tickets for the popular dates on the above routes are fully booked. In addition, air tickets to popular destinations such as Harbin, Urumqi, Sanya, Kunming, and Guangzhou during the New Year's Day holiday are also hot.
▲Image source: Fliggy Travel
The visa facilitation policies launched by some outbound travel destinations are superimposed on the New Year's Eve, and outbound travel in 2024 is about to usher in a good start. Fliggy data shows that as of December 18, the number of outbound travel bookings for the 2024 New Year's Day holiday has increased nearly 10 times year-on-year, with Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and other popular destinations being popular destinations.
For many young people and families with babies, lively, happy and relaxed are the key words of New Year's Eve. Qunar data shows that the number of advance ticket bookings for Shanghai Disneyland, Universal Beijing Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Chimelong Theme Park, and Harbin Ice and Snow World has doubled. After the recent opening of Shanghai Disneyland's new "Zootopia" park, ticket bookings have increased significantly, and some hotels in the surrounding area have already been fully booked during the New Year's holiday.
Cities are also celebrating the New Year in their own way. For example, Liuyang, Hunan Province, will host a series of performances, including fireworks shows, national tide music parties, and zero-point fireworks, while Foshan, Guangdong Province, will host performances of Lingnan heritage, such as iron flowers, fire dragon dances, and glow-in-the-dark lions. In addition, New Year's concerts, fireworks shows, New Year's markets and other events will be held in many places.
In addition to traveling, many people choose to spend Chinese New Year's Eve in hotels, "focusing on a sense of ceremony". On the Qunar platform, Shanghai, Nanjing, Sanya, Guangzhou and Beijing have a higher number of hotel bookings for the New Year's Eve (December 31-January 1), and luxury (five-star) and high-end hotels have the most popular view rooms.
On the afternoon of the 29th, Zhongxin Jingwei inquired about the Ctrip travel platform and found that the low price calendar showed that the lowest room price of the Bulgari Hotel in Shanghai was 11,200 yuan on the 31st, 7,463 yuan on January 1, and 6,530 yuan on the 2nd and after. Among them, the lowest price on the 31st is the selected Bund view room at 11,194 yuan, and the highest is the Bulgari suite at 303,700 yuan. On January 2, the lowest price was a high-end city view room priced at 6,530 yuan.
▲Source: Screenshot of Ctrip's travel platform
According to the official mini program of Bulgari Hotel Shanghai, the "Chinese New Year's Eve Privilege at the High Terrace Bar" package with a price of 6,888 yuan on the evening of the 31st has been sold out. According to the details page, the set includes 30g of Sturgeon Caviar, 36 months of hand-cut Iberian José Petit Ham (80g), 1 white wine boiled clam with tomatoes, 12 No. 2 rose pink diamond oysters, a fruit bowl and a 750ml bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne.
In addition, hotel bookings near popular tourist attractions are also booming, and prices have also increased. For example, at the Chaoman Hotel near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Zhongxin Jingwei found at noon on the 29th that there was only one high-quality warm family room with a price of 1,010 yuan left on the evening of the 31st, and the rest of the room types were sold out. On January 2, the price of the hotel has dropped, and the above room types have dropped to 624 yuan a night, and the rest of the room types can also be booked.
▲Source: Screenshot of Ctrip's travel platform
Consumers are busy on New Year's Eve, and the streets will be particularly lively in the early morning of New Year's Day. Didi Chuxing data recently predicted that the demand for ride-hailing during the New Year's Day holiday in 2024 is expected to increase by 100% year-on-year, and the order for booking hitchhikers to travel across the city will increase by nearly 220% year-on-year, and it is expected that the short-term increase will exceed 300% at 1-2 am on New Year's Day.
Book your New Year's Eve dinner a month in advance
To have a "ceremonial" atmosphere on New Year's Eve, it is indispensable to have a delicious meal with family and friends. On the 29th, Zhongxin Jingwei inquired about a number of popular business districts in Beijing and found that many restaurants had fully booked dinner seats on December 31.
Mr. Wang, from Beijing, said that he had booked a dinner seat at a Greek restaurant in Chaoyang District on the 31st a month in advance. "I wanted to come to this restaurant for New Year's Eve last year, but I didn't make a reservation in advance, and I ended up waiting from 4 pm to 8 pm to have a place, and after sitting down, I was told that several popular dishes had been sold out, so I had to change to another one and wait for 4 hours in vain. According to Mr. Wang, the restaurant pays more attention to the experience of the environment and atmosphere, and the number of people receiving a day is limited, and the supply of meals is limited.
According to the data provided by Haidilao, as of December 27, the number of reserved tables for Haidilao on December 31 has exceeded 100,000 tables, which is about 5 times the number of reservations on weekdays.
On platforms such as Meituan and Dianping, there are also many merchants that have put on the shelves New Year's Eve meals for two people and meals for many people. For example, an Italian Western restaurant in Sanlitun, Beijing, launched a New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve selection meal for two at 588 yuan and a slightly drunk meal for two at 298 yuan. The staff of the store told Zhongxin Jingwei on the 28th that reservations are no longer accepted for dinner on the 31st.
In addition, Marriott and many other high-end hotels have also joined the ranks of preparations for the New Year's Eve dinner. Many hotels have launched New Year's Eve package coupons that can only be used on the 31st, such as a single New Year's Eve buffet package worth 598 yuan, and a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner package for two people with a price of more than 1,000 yuan, but most of them need to be booked 48 hours in advance.
▲Data map taken by Zhongxin Jingwei
In addition to the hot New Year's Eve restaurant and hotel reservations, major shopping malls have also launched New Year's Day promotional activities such as full reductions, full returns, lucky draws, and discounts.
A staff member of a shopping mall in Changping District, Beijing, told Zhongxin Jingwei on the 28th that the mall launched a full gift activity on Chinese New Year's Eve, and spent at any store in the mall from 8:00 to 22:00 on December 31, and a gold dragon transfer pearl worth 169 yuan of Chinese jewelry can be given to 3599 yuan for 3599 yuan; a gold pearl worth 350 yuan for Chow Tai Fook will be given for 6999 yuan.
In this regard, Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, also said that this year's New Year's Eve dinner and New Year's countdown party are expected to be very popular, and some high-end restaurants, specialty restaurants and venues that offer holiday packages will also see a boom in bookings. In addition, New Year's promotions usually culminate during the New Year's Eve period, and there may be greater growth in consumer sectors such as online and offline retail, electronics, clothing, and gifts.
"The dragon is starting to be angry at home"
2024 is the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar, and with the Spring Festival approaching, online and offline dragon-related consumption has been attracting much attention.
At the end of December, Sino-Singapore Jingwei visited a number of shopping malls in Beijing and found that a number of FMCG stores such as MINISO, Cool Toys and Sanfu had launched themed products around the Year of the Dragon, including dolls, cups, hats, ornaments, jewelry, etc. On online platforms, brands of cultural and creative products such as the Forbidden City Taobao and the British Museum have also recently launched many Year of the Dragon merchandise. Coffee brand Starbucks has also launched Purple Qi Donglai Dragon Year Star Cup.
In addition, the Year of the Dragon merchandise is also indispensable for the participation of major gold jewelry brands. Brands such as Chow Tai Fook, Saturday Fook, Chow Tai Sang, and China Gold have also recently launched gold jewellery related to the Year of the Dragon, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, transfer beads, etc.
Zhongxin Jingwei checked the e-commerce platform on the 28th and found that the sales volume of the "Baofulong" gold pendant priced at 1039 yuan in Chow Tai Fook's flagship store has exceeded 1,000; in Chow Tai Sheng's flagship store, a Zodiac Dragon gold pendant priced at 1322 yuan has been sold more than 600 pieces; and the price of 862 yuan in the Liufu flagship store is the Year of the Dragon gold transfer beads, and 600+ people have paid.
Some netizens posted on social media that they had purchased a golden dragon pendant for their children in the past two days, and they waited for the clock to ring at 0 o'clock for the child to wear.
In addition, the home decoration peripherals related to the Year of the Dragon are also relatively hot.
On December 28th, "The Dragon in the Family Begins to Be Angry" appeared on the Xiaohongshu hot search list 1, and many netizens shared their purchases of various home decorations such as pendants for the Year of the Dragon, dragon-shaped pillows, "Year of the Dragon" lanterns, and dinner plates for the Year of the Dragon, and many netizens said, "The atmosphere has been created, ready to go, and wait for the arrival of New Year's Day." ”
There are even parents who show off the "Year of the Dragon Robe" Chinese-style New Year's greeting clothes prepared for their children, creating a full New Year's atmosphere.
▲Source: Screenshot of Xiaohongshu
13 films competed for the New Year's Day file
"Watch "Wolf Warrior 2" across the Chinese New Year's Eve, the national flag will be raised in the zero movie" "Watch "The Great Gatsby", Gatsby will raise a glass to you on New Year's Eve...... On social platforms, movie lovers have prepared a New Year's Eve film list early. In addition to classic old films, the supply of new films on New Year's Day is also very rich.
Maoyan Professional Edition shows that a total of 13 films will be released on New Year's Day (December 30, 2023 to January 1, 2024), and the more popular ones are "Sneaking", "Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", "Taylor Swift: Times Tour" and so on. As of December 30, the total box office of new films on New Year's Day has exceeded 900 million yuan.
In order to attract young consumers to the cinema, the filmmakers and theaters have also racked their brains. The online drama of the same name, "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", which was released first, arranged a "snow field" for the New Year's Eve in some theaters this time, and "artificial snow" will fall in the theater at that time, aiming to fill the sense of immersion;
In addition to the New Year's Eve file, many movies in the New Year file also provide a variety of choices for theaters on New Year's Eve, such as "The Three Teams", "Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom", "Detective Conan: The Fish Shadow of Black Iron" and so on. Wanlian Securities said in the research report that the New Year's Day atmosphere is superimposed on the normalization of holiday viewing, and the performance of the schedule is more prominent. Judging from the finalization of the film, the New Year's Day file has a rich variety of films, the audience's demand for watching movies is strong, and the market is showing a strong rebound.
Many places launched the New Year's Eve shopping season
In addition to consumers arranging their own New Year's Eve "rituals", Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and other places have launched "New Year's Eve shopping seasons" and issued consumption vouchers and other consumption promotion activities.
According to a document published on the website of the Beijing Municipal People's Government on December 27, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, in conjunction with cultural tourism, sports, gardening, agriculture and rural areas and other departments and district governments, launched the "Family Gardening Carnival", "Happy Ice and Snow Season", "Jinghua Township Rhyme Winter Village Festival", "New Year's Festival" and "Hot Pot Festival" during the New Year's Day holiday, guiding various market entities in the city to hold more than 400 consumption promotion activities.
According to the news released by Tianjin, the Tianjin Municipal Government held a New Year's Day and Spring Festival consumption promotion conference on the 27th, and Liu Zhiyong, chief accountant of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said at the meeting that Tianjin will hold the 2023-2024 New Year's Eve shopping season from the end of December 2023 to the end of February 2024, and a total of more than 400 consumption promotion activities will be launched. According to reports, in this "New Year's Eve shopping season", Tianjin Municipal Finance arranged 30 million yuan of consumption voucher funds.
In addition, Shanghai also launched the "2024 New Year's Eve Shopping Season" series of activities on December 22. According to Shanghai Huangpu news on the 24th, from December 22 to January 4, Meituan Takeaway, together with Starbucks, Haidilao, KFC, Pizza Hut and other brands, sent 50,000 Good Luck Overlord meals to Shanghai users, and issued more than 10 million yuan of catering coupons.
Jiang Han said that with the full recovery of the tourism industry this year, short-distance tourism, urban travel and domestic long-distance tourism during the New Year's Eve may increase. "In particular, places with unique New Year's celebrations or landscapes may be more popular. In addition, high-end hotels and specialty B&Bs may see a spike in bookings, especially those that offer New Year's themed parties or special experiences. ”
Travel, shopping, New Year's Eve dinner, movie viewing, and the issuance of consumption vouchers, this year's New Year's Eve activities are more abundant, and consumption is becoming more and more hot, what problems should consumers pay attention to?
In this regard, Jiang Han reminded consumers that in terms of travel, they should pay attention to food hygiene and accommodation safety. Before booking flights and hotels, compare prices and facility information, and respect local Xi and traditions. Check out the offers and special services of different hotels before choosing a hotel. Read the hotel's policies and regulations, such as cancellation policy, refund policy, etc. In terms of shopping, consumers should pay attention to personal safety and take good care of their valuables. Avoid shopping during crowded hours and try to leave crowded places as early as possible.
Source: Sino-Singapore Jingwei