The street is full of willow and green silk smoke, drawing "April day in the world". Popular scenic spots "people follow the crowd", spring tea fresh food "fire out of the circle", boutique homestays "hard to find", "old for new" in full swing...... During the Qingming holiday just past, although many places in our province were affected by cooling and rain, the consumer market represented by cultural and tourism consumption was still "hot and hot", and flower-viewing tours, mountaineering tours, and cultural and museum tours were very popular, and the growth of outbound and inbound tours was obvious, reflecting the strong resilience of the domestic consumer market. According to the real-time monitoring and preliminary statistics of the business system, during the Qingming holiday (April 4 to April 6), the province's key commercial and trade circulation enterprises achieved cumulative sales of about 1.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%. Among them, the performance of key catering enterprises was eye-catching, with a year-on-year increase of 50.6% in turnover. According to UnionPay business data, during the three days of the Qingming holiday, the cultural tourism consumption of foreign tourists in Jiangsu was 5.969 billion yuan, accounting for 33.75% of the total UnionPay consumption in the province, with an average daily increase of 60.42%, accounting for 10.68% of the total cultural and tourism consumption in the country, ranking first in the country. There are about 20 days to usher in the May Day holiday, can the heat of the Qingming holiday consumer market continue? What is the potential of holiday consumption can be tapped? Step on the theme of "spring", life consumption is red This year's Qingming holiday, citizens and tourists from all over the world have gone out of their homes, shopping, and enjoying a beautiful spring. At the same time, the main business districts in various parts of the province have seized the "spring hot spots" and launched various spring discount promotions to inject vitality into the "holiday economy". Nanjing Central Shopping Mall will hold the 2024 Spring Beauty Festival, the 1st Spring Gold and Jewelry Festival and the Spring New Food Carnival...... During the three-day holiday, the 38 shopping malls and complexes monitored by Nanjing achieved a total sales of 410 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.9% on a comparable basis. Spring is the peak season for outdoor activities, and camping, hiking, sports and other equipment have also become one of the holiday promotions of merchants. The reporter saw in many business districts that many brand counters have opened up outdoor products areas, selling outdoor goods such as mountaineering backpacks, quick-opening tents, outdoor tables and chairs, as well as coffee cups, dinner plates, table mats and other products for outdoor use. Catering consumption grew strongly, and the catering market in the province ushered in a peak of reception. Spring "fresh foods" such as Qingtuan, toon, and spring bamboo shoots are welcomed by consumers. During the Qingming holiday, the turnover of 13 catering enterprises monitored by Wuxi City was about 28.5 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 60.2%, and the turnover of 20 catering enterprises monitored by Yangzhou City was 16.82 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. This holiday coincides with the "new season", and the trade-in action has become the "accelerant" of the consumer market. In Nanjing, Suning's sales of home appliances doubled, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners became the three popular replacement categories in Nanjing, with a growth rate of more than 150%, and the sales of green smart home appliances increased by 107% year-on-year. In Nantong, the 3rd Suxin Consumer Household Appliances and Home Decoration Carnival South China Tong area activity is underway, and the activity will issue 10 million yuan of consumption vouchers for home appliances, furniture, home decoration and home textiles in two phases through the UnionPay platform, and many citizens will take the opportunity to replace home appliances. At present, festivals and promotional activities such as "Suxin Consumption" are still continuing, and merchants are generally optimistic that the consumption heat of the Qingming holiday will continue until the May Day "Golden Week". Leisure demand has skyrocketed, and the potential of cultural and tourism consumption is great during the Qingming holiday, and the demand for leisure consumption represented by cultural and tourism consumption has exploded, becoming the highlight of the holiday consumer market. According to the "2024 Qingming Festival Holiday Travel Summary" released by Ctrip, during this year's Qingming holiday, domestic local travel and peripheral travel orders increased by 211% and 350% year-on-year respectively, and rural travel orders increased by 239% year-on-year. According to the "2024 Qingming Holiday Travel Consumption Report" released by Tongcheng Tourism, the popularity of short-distance travel is obvious, the popularity of cultural and museum venues remains high, and the search popularity of domestic museums has increased by 108% month-on-month. According to data from the Ctrip platform, Nanjing, Suzhou and Yangzhou ranked second, third and ninth respectively in the top 10 list of popular destinations for peripheral travel in China, with car rental orders increasing by 240% year-on-year. Leisure and entertainment methods such as mountaineering and camping are becoming more and more sought after by young people around the world, and the transaction volume of related Meituan has increased by more than 180% year-on-year, and "camping barbecue", "parent-child camping" and "camping equipment" have become popular search terms on major platforms. As the second Qingming holiday after the epidemic is relaxed, this year's tourism market has reached a new level on the basis of high growth in 2023, which reflects the strong potential of domestic tourism in the eyes of many industry insiders. "From this year's New Year's Day, Spring Festival, to the Qingming holiday, the domestic tourism market as a whole has shown a good trend of steady recovery. Although the Qingming holiday is relatively short, the overall market heat is in line with expectations, and there are many bright spots that exceed expectations. Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, said that the potential for the integration of culture and tourism during this year's Qingming holiday has been further highlighted, and consumers' willingness to explore traditional culture has been significantly enhanced. Taking "Xia Jiangnan" as an example, Tongcheng data shows that during the Qingming holiday, Nanjing's tourism popularity increased by 29% year-on-year, Suzhou's tourism popularity increased by 25% year-on-year, and Wuxi Yuantouzhu, Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden and other scenic spots became the most popular cultural experience scenic spots in Qingming. On the first day of the Qingming holiday, the passenger flow of Suzhou rail transit reached 2.663 million person-times, ranking second in the list of historical passenger flows; during the Qingming holiday, the sales of commercial and trade enterprises around the Confucius Temple Scenic Area and Tangshan Scenic Area in Nanjing increased by 117.0% and 338.1% respectively year-on-year according to comparable standards. From the perspective of tourists, on the one hand, destinations such as Yanbian and Zibo, which exploded last year, are still in the "bonus period", and there is an endless stream of tourists, on the other hand, tourists and consumers are more willing to try and explore niche destinations. These all show that the potential of the cultural tourism consumer market has not yet been fully released, and there is still a huge space to be tapped. It is necessary not only for promotion, but also for the rise in the popularity of the holiday consumer market, which is inseparable from advance planning and precise policy. In late March, the 2024 "Water Charm Jiangsu, You Will Be More Beautiful" cultural tourism consumption promotion season kicked off, with 803 consumption promotion activities and 419 measures to benefit the people launched in one fell swoop. During the Qingming holiday, the provincial commerce department carried out more than 500 consumption promotion activities in combination with the theme of "Suxin Consumption, Spring Hui Jiangsu", issued 140 million yuan of Huimin consumption vouchers and 130 million yuan of digital RMB red envelopes, and nearly 20,000 commercial and trade circulation enterprises participated. To promote "sales" with "supply", it is also necessary to have a target. Nowadays, consumers' holiday consumption habits are changing, not only "buying, buying", but also "emotional consumption" and "social needs" while buying the items needed for life. "To be close to and meet the new needs of consumers, we must create a more diverse and novel 'life field'. The relevant person in charge of Nanjing Chengbei Vientiane City said that under the guidance of the new trend, consumers are often more likely to pay for emotional value and atmosphere. To this end, the MixC in the north of Nanjing City has created a "new generation of commercial aesthetic space" connected by a 127-meter-long double-layer sky corridor, and has also joined hands with international cultural IP to launch activities such as the British Library World Pixel Exhibition and the National Geographic Magazine Chinese Classic Visual Exhibition. "In May, we will also create a holiday 'super market' to attract people from all walks of life with fun and quality. The person in charge said. Strengthening "business +" has become an important means to expand new consumption space. On April 5, the 2024 China Dragon International 3x3 Basketball Super League opened its fourth leg in Gaochun, superimposed on the Gaochun Golden Flower Tourism Season, which drove the "popularity" and "wealth" of the whole region. During the Qingming holiday, nearly 400 commercial performances and sports events held in various parts of the province further enriched the tourism scene, and through new formats such as "tourism + music" and "tourism + sports", the number of participants and economic consumption increased significantly, and the tourism-driven effect was fully demonstrated. There is also room for secondary consumption. In order to increase the proportion of tourists' multiple consumption, theme parks, suburban villages, leisure blocks, resort hotels and homestays, night cultural tourism consumption clusters and other tourist destinations have made efforts across the board, focusing on enriching parent-child travel, family travel, and leisure travel products, so that the rate of tourists staying overnight and repurchasing will increase, and the added value of tourism consumption will continue to increase. Dig deep into the spring economy and warm up the summer economy In the face of the upcoming May Day holiday, how can all parts of the province grasp the new outlet of the holiday economy and let the heat of the Qingming market continue? From the Qingming Festival to Labor Day, the interval is not long, but for Jiangsu, it is the season from spring to summer, and the consumption format should not only maintain the excavation of the spring economy, but also pay attention to warming up the summer economy. "As the weather gets hotter, our province can further expand the influence of the night-time economy during the May Day holiday. Peng Chong, a professor at the Joint Research Institute of Nanjing Audit University, suggested that night markets and night tours should be promoted in more cities and scenic spots, and cultural elements should be introduced according to local conditions, such as traditional opera performances and folk customs displays, so as to attract tourists of different ages. At the same time, we can learn from the experience of London and New York to combine traditional culture with modern entertainment by holding night markets and light shows to create a number of night tour hotspots. In addition, it is necessary to step on the tuyere and continue to optimize the consumption environment. Cheng Chaogong believes that compared with many economies in the world, domestic stable prices and high-quality tourism service supply are forming a strong competitiveness, and the gradual recovery of inbound tourism is the best proof, and efforts should be made to break the relevant blockages of inbound tourism. Just before the Qingming Festival, our province issued eight measures to promote the recovery and development of inbound tourism, and measures such as optimizing the payment environment for inbound tourists hit the key points. In the face of the foreseeable "crowd" during the festival, the relevant person in charge of the Market Management Office of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism said that popular scenic spots and cultural and museum venues should continue to alleviate the pressure of passenger flow and smooth the channels for special groups by optimizing the reservation system, increasing the number of reservation places, extending opening hours, and opening up channels for special groups. At the same time, according to the actual peak passenger flow, optimize the design of the tour route in time, and do a good job in traffic guidance, passenger flow diversion and parking services. On the supply side, Peng Chong suggested that we should continue to vigorously promote the popular economic model of first store launch at home and abroad, and encourage more international and regional brands to open pop-up stores or release new products in Jiangsu during the May Day period, so as to release brand attractiveness and stimulate holiday consumption potential with high-quality supply.
People in the industry are optimistic about the May Day holiday, and it is almost a foregone conclusion that life consumption will improve. At present, new consumption patterns and festivals created by various regions in combination with regional characteristics have achieved remarkable results in promoting consumption, a large number of cross-format linkage scenarios have emerged, and the online and offline marketing methods of the platform have been continuously renovated, and the consumer market is expected to continue to heat up in 2024.
Source: Xinhua Daily
Editor: Zeng Xueqi
Review: Xu Xiaodong