This year, the official Tet holiday schedule in China lasts 9 days, from February 15-23 (December 28 to the 7th day of Tet), instead of 8 days as usual. Having 1 more day off is expected to help people have more time and room to spend.
According to government forecasts, in the 40 days of the "spring migration" peak, about 9.5 billion passengers will travel nationwide, an increase compared to 9 billion last year. Although China has lost the title of the world's most populous country to India since 2023, the annual spring migration is still considered the largest population migration globally.
This year, China enters the year of the Binh Ngo horse - a symbol of optimism and opportunity - after the year of the At Ty snake associated with transformation and change.
An article by the Jiangsu Provincial Propaganda Department clearly expressed the government's expectation: Consumption during festivals will play a leading role in stimulating domestic demand, strongly unleashing vitality and promoting economic progress, with the metaphor "all horses galloping".
To support this goal, the central government said it will issue more than 360 million yuan in shopping vouchers in February, equivalent to about 1,350 billion VND, to encourage people to increase spending.
Mr. George Magnus - a researcher at the China Center at Oxford University - said that Lunar New Year always brings significant boosts to the retail and consumer services sectors - industries that may fall into a state of sluggishness in February if there are no long holidays.
However, at the macro level, the Chinese economy still faces major challenges as households maintain high savings, about 1/3 of income. GDP growth is still heavily dependent on exports. Last year, total retail sales - an indicator reflecting domestic consumption - only increased by 3.7%, lower than the 5% GDP growth rate.
Promoting domestic demand is identified as the focus of the upcoming 5-year plan, expected to be approved by the Chinese National People's Congress in March. Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission said it was developing an action plan to expand domestic demand in the next 5 years.
One sector that is assessed to have a lot of room for growth is the service sector, including elderly care, entertainment and healthcare. Last year, these sectors grew by 5.5% and are still underdeveloped compared to consumer goods, meaning the potential for expansion is still large.
Cinemas continue to be a familiar destination every Tet holiday. Last year, the animated film Na Tra 2 created a box office fever, grossing 4.8 billion yuan (about 18,000 billion VND) in the first week of its Tet release and then exceeding 14 billion yuan (52.600 billion VND), becoming the highest-grossing film in Chinese cinema history.
This year, works like Pegasus 3 or Scare Out are expected to continue this success.
