STORY: China cashes in on vibrant Spring Festival holiday consumption
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 10-Feb. 17
DATELINE: Feb. 18, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:27
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the views in China
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI XIAOCHUN, Staff member at Wuyi Mountain scenic area
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): SUN FUXIA, General manager of Heihe Tutu Travel Agency
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): LU SHAN, Staff member at Poly International Cinema

STORYLINE:
Chinese consumers have again shown their huge spending potential during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended Saturday.

According to the data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, some 474 million domestic trips were made in the period, up 34.3 percent from the Spring Festival holiday last year.

Domestic tourists have spent about 632.69 billion yuan (about 87.95 billion U.S. dollars), up 47.3 percent from the holiday last year.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI XIAOCHUN, Staff member at Wuyi Mountain scenic area
"The Wuyi Mountain scenic area has been very popular since the first day of the Lunar New Year, with the tourists number up 60 percent compared with the same period of last year."

According to the National Immigration Administration, China saw about 13.52 million inbound and outbound trips during the Spring Festival holiday.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): SUN FUXIA, General manager of Heihe Tutu Travel Agency
"Our staff members have been very busy (during the Spring Festival holiday). Every day, we receive many inbound tourists from Russia, who come to Heihe City to travel and try Chinese food."

Besides the tourism market, China's cinemas also welcomed crowds of moviegoers during the holiday.

China's box office revenue during the Spring Festival holiday exceeded 8 billion yuan (about 1.13 billion dollars).

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): LU SHAN, Staff member at Poly International Cinema
"There are eight films released during the Spring Festival holiday, more than that of the last year. Movie-goers like family-friendly films the most, especially comedy movies."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)