The past 3-day New Year holiday was the first major holiday since the release of China's "10 new measures" to optimize COVID-19 response. Strong festive atmosphere was seen and consumption recovered at the business areas around Hunan Province. During the 3-day holiday, Hunan's sales revenue reached 1.378 billion CNY.

Coupons were issued in some regions to boost consumption. Shaoyang government issued coupons worth 660,000 CNY, driving commodity sales to the tune of nearly 2.5 million CNY. Shaoyang's consumer market grew steadily with a 50% rise of consumer flow compared with weekends.

Consumer demands for home appliances and automobiles rose. During the holiday, the automobile market recovered with new energy vehicles as a highlight. The automobile sales in Zhuzhou hit nearly 10.95 million CNY. Increasing demand was also seen in cosmetics and home appliances sectors. The sales of cosmetics and jewelries in Xiangtan reached 3.73 million CNY and 4.232 million CNY respectively, both showing double-digit growth compared with that before the holiday.

Catering consumption surged and take-out orders increased continuously. During the New Year holiday, the catering businesses around the province extended opening hours, and launched various promotion activities such as discounts for online ordering, top-up for membership, and VIP box consumption. More than 90% seats were taken at some popular restaurants. In Changsha, long queues of consumers were seen at hot snack bars and restaurants.

Agritainment was popular during the holiday. Eight agritainment spots under key monitoring of Changde's tourism authority made a total operating revenue of 1.012 million CNY.

Take-out service flourished in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. Fried rice, stirred rice, and soups were preferred. Take-out deliverymen queued outside popular chain restaurants. Statistics showed that, the sales of these catering businesses rose by more than 80% over that before the holiday.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn