China's Spring Festival Sees Record Spending, But Frugality Persists

Per-person spending below pre-pandemic levels amid uncertain economic outlook

- Michelle Ng

BEIJING - China's Spring Festival holiday in 2025 gave the economy reason to cheer, as it broke several records for domestic consumption. But even as Chinese citizens travelled and shopped, their per-person spending lagged behind pre-pandemic levels, pointing to frugality amid an uncertain economic outlook.

Across the eight-day Spring Festival holiday from Jan 28 to Feb 4, overall spending on domestic travel reached an all-time high of 677 billion yuan (S$125.6 billion), an increase of 7 per cent compared with 2024, according to official data released on Feb 5.

In total, Chinese tourists made 501 million domestic trips during the holiday period, an increase of 5.9 per cent from 2024.

The travel rush during China's yearly Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is often dubbed the world's largest annual human migration, as millions return to their home towns or travel domestically.

Over the holiday period, sales of key retail and catering enterprises in China grew by 4.1 per cent compared with 2024, with home appliances, mobile phones and tablets recording booming sales.

While the jump in overall spending is a positive sign for China's stalled economy, analysts said weakness persists, as they pointed to the modest increase in per-person spending.

Mr Harry Murphy Cruise, head of China and Australia economics at Moody's Analytics, said per-person spending during the 2025 holiday rose just 1 per cent from 2024 and remains almost 5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels - a sign that households are still being frugal on travel and experiences, which they reserve for special times such as this.

"Outside of these times, retail spending remains lacklustre. For that reason, I'm sceptical that the holiday burst will translate into sustained spending growth when the (Spring Festival) travel period ends," he added.