00:00Yes, Tuesday marks the end of China's five-day holiday known as Golden Week.
00:04And as usual, it's been an incredibly busy travel period with huge numbers of people visiting friends and relatives across
00:11the country.
00:13Now, China's state railway company confirmed it has already transported at least 117 million people.
00:20We're still waiting for the final tally of this year's holiday.
00:23But to show you the potential scale of spending, last year, Chinese travellers spent almost $25 billion during the five
00:31days.
00:32And it's boom time, too, for China's film sector, with box office revenue for the Golden Week holiday exceeding $102
00:39million.
00:40Now, part of the boost is due to discounted movie and dining ticket combos.
00:45We saw the expansion of China's visa-free policy, helping inbound visitor numbers surge to their highest levels since the
00:53pandemic.
00:53Nearly two and a half million visitors arrived or departed each day of Golden Week.
00:59Now, Daniel Zipser is the senior partner at McKinsey and Company based in Shenzhen.
01:04I asked him how this year's consumption figures compare to previous years.
01:09Now, we're coming to the end of the May holidays, that the travel spending over the May holidays here in
01:14China has really been extraordinarily good.
01:16We've seen a double-digit increase vis-a-vis last year due to an extended holiday season and very strong
01:23travel activities.
01:24Also, travel activities have been increasing single-digit.
01:28And we've heard that passenger trips on the country's railway network exceeded $100 million during that holiday.
01:34But what other categories of consumption have benefited the most in the last period, these last five days?
01:40First of all, indeed, very impressive numbers when it comes to the travel activities.
01:46And I think alongside this travel, I think we've seen great spending on tourism, but we've also seen a healthy
01:53spending on product categories.
01:56I think very consistent with what we've been seeing throughout the year 2026 so far.
02:01We've seen stronger pickup in some of the core consumer categories, including F&B, including fashion and apparel, as well
02:09as sportswear.
02:10So very consistent with what we've been through the year.
02:13And the healthy travel activity definitely contributed to the recovery in the consumer spending this year, particularly in the core
02:20categories.
02:21Where does consumption find itself among the key drivers of China's economy nationally?
02:26So far, actually, this has been a balanced picture.
02:29And the reason is that some of the discouraging category categories, particularly automotive, as well as large domestic appliances, have
02:37been very soft this year.
02:39So this year, actually, it has been the exports that has been driving a larger part of the economic growth.
02:47So the major reason, if I look at the year to date, why the economic performance, macroeconomic performance has been
02:53quite strong, has been a result of exports.
02:59Domestic consumption has been rising, but the growth has been stronger in some of the categories, as I mentioned, food
03:06and beverage, sportswear, fashion, beauty, personal care, but has been less strong in other categories, particularly automotive and appliances.
03:15And why is that?
03:18If you look at appliances and automotive, 2025, so last year, has been an exceptionally strong year.
03:25And that has been driven by demand subsidies.
03:29So trade and rebates, as we do know them from Europe for many decades.
03:35Last year was the first time that China actually has been doing that at a very large scale.
03:39And that has been led to some advanced purchases.
03:43So people were buying television washing machines, as well as electric vehicles early on in terms of replacement purchases.
03:52And now, with the subsidies fading, and many people have done the purchase last year, this year we basically see
03:59less purchases there.
04:00But that also led to some of the stronger spending this year when it comes to tourism, when it comes
04:05to F&B, when it comes to fashion, beauty, personal care.
04:09So I think we see still a strong growth, but with different categories compared to what we've seen last year.
04:14And consumption is strong during this May holiday.
04:17But what's your outlook for the summer period?
04:22So, first of all, it's very difficult, as always, to predict.
04:24And I think it's even more difficult in the current global geopolitical environment.
04:31But let me still put my head out and say, I'm looking forward to the summer months.
04:36And I'm confident that we continue to see healthy growth in domestic consumption.
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