China's National Day Holiday Retail Sales Rise as Travel Volumes Surge

China's National Day holiday is telling a robust story of the country's consumer economy, with government trade-in subsidies keeping spending moving and hundreds of millions of travelers crowding the nation's shopping streets, highways and railway stations.

From Oct. 1 to 3, sales at 78 major pedestrian streets and shopping districts monitored by the Ministry of Commerce rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier, while foot traffic in the first three days of the holiday increased 3.4 percent, the ministry said.

Trade-in programs, a centerpiece of Beijing's efforts to stimulate household consumption, generated 19.63 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) in sales and reached 3.48 million consumers in the opening days of the holiday.

Auto trade-ins led the way, accounting for 7.45 billion yuan in new-car sales. Replacements of home appliances generated 6.5 billion yuan, while purchases of digital and smart products contributed another 4.9 billion yuan.

The spending momentum is being matched by a travel rush. Ministry of Transport figures show that total cross-regional passenger flows across the country are expected to reach 2.13 billion trips over the seven-day holiday, averaging roughly 300 million trips a day.

Oct. 1 alone saw 329 million cross-regional trips as travelers set out on the first day of the break. Counted together with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, total cross-regional person-trips over the two holidays have reached 2.78 billion, the data showed.