National Day holiday spurs spending

By Li Qiaoyi

The National Day holiday saw a substantial increase in consumer spending over last year, signaling the economic recovery has a solid grounding, a senior analyst said Friday.

The retail sales of consumer goods during the eight-day holiday reached 570 billion yuan ($83.5 billion), up 18 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday.

Major promotions took place all over the country in an attempt to boost sales.

MOFCOM reported that retail enterprises in eight provinces and regions that it surveyed all saw more than 20 percent growth in sales.

The rise in consumer spending and improvement in industrial production and exports indicate that the country's economy is on a steady path to recovery, Liu Deqian, deputy director of the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Global Times.

A group of economists led by Lu Ting from BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research wrote in a report released Tuesday that So far, all statistics and anecdotal evidence point to robust consumer spending in the holiday despite strong headwinds, such as the financial crisis and its resulting slumping exports, and swine flu.

Consumer spending on home appliances surged during the holiday.

Major shopping centers like Jiangsu's Five Star Appliance and Xi'an's Kaiyuan Shopping Mall saw more than 30 percent increases in sales with medium and high-end appliances such as high-definition flat screen TVs and digital cameras performing especially well, MOFCOM reported.

Jewelry and automobile purchases also rose considerably over the National Day holiday, MOFCOM said.

The tourism industry has also begun bouncing back.

Domestic tourism hit its highest point since 2008, and overseas tourism grew over the same period last year, the China National Tourism Administration said Thursday.

Consumption growth will help China's economy continue to lead the global recovery, CASS's Liu said.

But he also noted that the uptick in spending was partly due to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which lengthened this year's holiday, and the cancellation of the seven-day International Workers' Day holiday in May.

The current holiday system could be improved, according to experts.

Two more days should be made national holidays, Liu suggested.

This would give people a better chance to organize their vacations and consumption potential would be maximized, Liu said.

The uptick in spending was partly due to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which lengthened this year's holiday, and the cancellation of the seven-day International Workers' Day holiday in May.

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