While China’s president is on the road this week, visiting Europe for the first time in five years, tourism is making news there.
It’s a rare and brief story of growth in China’s current economy — and comes with some cautions.
The focus is domestic travel, with the starting point being May Day, a major holiday, last week.
It’s China’s Labor Day — part of a holiday break that just wrapped up on Sunday.
This year, travel was busy, especially within China. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said travelers made nearly 300 million domestic trips over five days.
That’s up nearly 30% from the comparable four-day holiday period in the pre-pandemic days of 2019.
But spending was up by less than half that amount, reflecting financial concerns that are lingering for many Chinese households.
International travel was more muted — but still showed growth.
The Chinese government remains eager to trumpet any progress, even appearing to overstate the case a bit.
The Chinese Communist Party’s “People’s Daily” ran a story Monday claiming that the recent travels “bolster the world tourism industry” and that “Chinese holidays have injected impetus into the world economy.”
Maybe it's not saving the global economy, but it's at least helping China.
