Chongqing- During the last New Year holiday from January 1 to 3, crowds flocked to the major business districts, commercial streets, and Chongqing shopping malls, as the city consumer market boomed.
According to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, district and county business zones, along with key enterprises, achieved total retail sales of 7.674 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year growth of 13.5%.
In order to ensure a safe and enjoyable New Year’s celebration for citizens, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce assessed potential security risks in critical locations and important links in the business sector, whilst the organization of supply chains was strengthened to ensure that goods were able to meet consumer demand.
During the last New Year holiday from January 1 to 3, crowds flock to the major business districts, commercial streets, and Chongqing shopping malls.
Data indicates that stocks of cereal, cooking oil, fruit, vegetables, and aquatic products in large wholesale markets were more than 20% higher than the same period last year. Chongqing Department Store, Yonghui Superstores, and other large businesses doubled the stock of goods to ensure the variety and sufficiency of products over the festive period.
The daily trading volume of dried fruits, vegetables, and other products in Chongqing Shuangfu International Agricultural Product Trade City exceeded 12,000 tons, while prices remained stable on the whole.
In the city downtown, Jiefangbei, Three Gorges Plaza, Raffles, and other business districts joined with shopping malls, commercial streets, large supermarkets, and e-commerce platforms to hold diversified promotions such as full discounts, bonuses, coupons, and group-purchase savings.
Department stores and commercial streets joined hands to entice consumers with a range of generous discounts and promotions.
Statistics show that department store retail sales in Nan'an District increased by 19% over the same period, while Sincere Starlight Plaza attained an operating income of 17.8 million Yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33%. Longfor Jinsha Paradise Walk in Shapingba District, which opened to the public a week prior, achieved sales in excess of 100 million Yuan.
Local citizens highly favored specialty catering sectors such as Chongqing hotpot and foreign tourists alike, as long lines were often seen in front of many restaurants.
Many catering businesses seized the opportunity of New Year’s Day to cooperate with Ali, Meituan, Dianping, Baidu, and Nuomi, as they launched promotional activities for family gatherings, low priced specialty dishes, and banquet discounts through various innovative forms of communication such as gourmet maps, celebrity visits, and live broadcasts, which promoted steady growth in the catering consumption market.
Retail sales among the key catering businesses in Chongqing reached 4.089 million yuan. For example, Liyuan Hotel achieved retail sales of 220,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%.
Hotpot proved deeply popular with locals and tourists as a Chongqing specialty.
Over the holiday period, the business entered into cooperation with the cultural tourism sector in Chongqing, as they integrated specialty pedestrian streets, scenic spots, and amusement parks with cultural venues, theaters, museums, science and technology museums, and intangible heritage units through ticket discounts and reductions, which combined to stimulate public consumption.
Meanwhile, Chongqing Happy Valley held a New Year’s Eve Music Festival, and famous scenic spots such as Jinfo Mountain and Fairy Mountain launched value ticket + accommodation packages to entice business. The Chongqing hot spring resorts of Shangbang Pushi, Bailian, Haichang Tangdu, and Tongjing also become top destinations for citizens to relax.
Tourism in the greater Chongqing Municipality showed an upward development trend, as each location promoted its regional attractions. Revenue earned by rural hospitality venues amounted to 67.835 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%. Among these, Pengshui County reported impressive growth of 33.3% year-on-year, while Fengjie, Wanzhou, and Zhongxian all posted increases in excess of 20%.
(iChongqing intern Dominic Fu contributed to this report.)