Jiangsu sees consumer spending rise

Jiangsu province received 41.35 million visitors during the Spring Festival holiday, up 21.8 percent from the same period last year.

Its gross domestic tourism revenue for the seven-day festival reached 28.2 billion yuan ($4.2 billion), while sales in the catering industry increased to 13 billion yuan, up 9 percent over last year.

More than 13 million people in Jiangsu spent 717 million yuan to watch movies at cinemas during the festival, which accounted for more than 10 percent of the country's total, according to the China Film Administration.

To further boost consumption, the Jiangsu government specified in its government report that themed shopping festivals will be held every month in the 13 cities of the province, and coupons will be distributed frequently to consumers.

Consumption in many industries, such as catering, new energy vehicles and home appliances, will be encouraged.

"Distributing coupons to stimulate consumption has turned out to be effective for many cities," said Zhu Juping, director of the Institute of Economic Development in the Taizhou branch of the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences. "Consumers' shopping desire, which was suppressed during the pandemic, was released as many pandemic prevention measures were lifted."

"Local governments should strive to create a relaxed and comfortable consumption environment and provide various kinds of products and cultural and tourism activities, so that consumers will be willing to spend money," she said.

Cheng Feng, a Suzhou resident, said he stood in long lines to buy desserts at stores, and the scenes reminded him of the days before the pandemic.

"I missed spending quality time with friends and have delicious foods," the 28-year-old said. "I applied for coupons with different apps to save money. Both saving money with coupons and spending money on products I like make me happy."

To further boost consumption, 14 financial institutions and key shopping centers in Suzhou gave out digital RMB red envelopes totaling 17.5 million yuan. Forty-seven tourist attractions in Wuxi offered free admission and distributed 500,000 free subway tickets to visitors.