BEIJING (ANN/CHINA DAILY) – The ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games, coupled with the upcoming eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period, are set to ignite China’s consumer market, with the tourism sector anticipated to reach its peak.
The 19th Asian Games are currently underway in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from September 23 to October 8. As of September 20, data from online platforms like Meituan and Dianping revealed a remarkable 380 per cent surge in dine-in orders within the catering industry compared to the same period in 2019.
In host city Hangzhou, as well as co-host cities including Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, and Jinhua, hotel rooms and Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast establishments (Minsu) are nearly fully booked.
Hangzhou has now secured a place among the top 10 preferred railway destinations for the National Day holiday.
By September 18, the booking number of air tickets to Hangzhou increased 20 per cent compared with the same period of 2019 at travel portal Qunar during the Asian Games, the hotel booking number jumped 4.4 times, and the scenic spot ticket sales grew 20 per cent.
The Asian Games is driving tourism consumption in the host city and co-host cities.
The search volume of Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua increased two times month-on-month in recent weeks, according to the Qunar.
During the Asian Games, the hotel booking volume and entrance tickets in these co-host cities soared over five times and over three times compared with the same period of 2019.
The Asian Games also bring sports fever to the country. As of September 20 the number of sports and fitness orders in Zhejiang province grew 150 per cent year-on-year, with the popularity of ball sports and fitness centres rising the fastest.
Catering is an essential element of mass tourism, and gourmet food is a rigid demand to well-off tourism, said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, at a forum.
Gourmet food has become a new driving force for facilitating tourism consumption and promoting tourism to high-quality development.
This year, many young people turned their eyes to some small-crowd cities with characteristics for enjoying a leisurely holiday while having a good meal, as well as avoiding the surging tide during the eight-day holiday.
According to a list of popular small-crowd tourism destinations from Mafengwo, a travel service and social networking platform, more than half of cities stand out for their gourmet food.
Quanzhou of Fujian province, Taizhou of Zhejiang province, Leshan of Sichuan province, and Liuzhou of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with gourmet food such as ancient flavour food, seafood, and luosifen (river snail rice noodles) are ranked in the list.
