China News Service, Shanghai, February 23 (Reporter Jiang Yu) According to statistics released by the Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory on the 23rd, in the eight days before this year’s Spring Festival holiday (February 15 to February 22), Shanghai’s online and offline consumption was 60.35 billion yuan, an increase of 12.8% compared with last year’s Spring Festival holiday (January 28 to February 4, 2025).
According to statistics released by Ant International on the same day, in the five days before this year’s Spring Festival holiday (February 15 to February 19), the amount of inbound tourists’ consumption in China using Alipay’s two types of convenient payment services, Alipay’s “foreign card binding” and Alipay+ “outsourced internal use”, increased by more than 80% compared with the five days before last year’s Spring Festival (January 28 to February 1, 2025).
During the Spring Festival holiday this year, major business districts in Shanghai deeply integrated resources to create a strong atmosphere of "Hundred Horses to Welcome the New Year". Cultural, business, tourism and sports exhibitions were staged in turn, with a steady flow of citizens and tourists, effectively stimulating the vitality of the consumer market. The consumption amount in 19 municipal business districts was 4.78 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.0%; the average daily passenger flow was 3.19 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%.
During the same period, Shanghai's outbound tax refund sales amounted to more than 80 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 times. Tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States have the highest number of tax refunds.
During the Spring Festival holiday this year, tourists from South Korea, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and other places used their hometown e-wallets to travel around China through Alipay’s convenient payment services. Especially in Shanghai, Alipay consumption increased by nearly 100% year-on-year.
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Yiwu, Zhuhai, Hangzhou, Foshan, Suzhou, and Chengdu have become the top ten cities where foreign tourists spend the most with Alipay during the Spring Festival this year. Convenient payment services attract more and more foreign tourists to “experience” the Chinese New Year. (over)
