Economic Watch: China's consumption continues to rebound amid swift economic recovery

TIANJIN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- After a thrilling go-kart experience at a racetrack with roaring engines as in the scenes of "The Fast and the Furious" movies, Jack Chan enjoyed his "Roman Holiday" in an Italian-style business district in north China"s Tianjin Municipality.

Chan, who hails from Singapore, has been living in China for 20 years. His work entails perennial travels between Beijing and Tianjin.

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"In my leisure time, I always go to Tianjin"s Florentia Village business district, which is near Beijing, for shopping and entertainment. It offers me more consumption choices and fresh experiences," Chan said.

With more than 300 international brands, immersive entertainment consumption scenarios and an intelligent tour guide, the business district has embraced robust consumption vitality, especially this year.

As one of Tianjin"s featured shopping hotspots, the business district welcomed more than 1 million passenger visits in January, hitting a record high. During the 2023 Spring Festival holiday alone, it registered 300,000 visits, with a turnover of 160 million yuan (about 23.2 million U.S. dollars).

Howard Li, board chairman & CEO of Waitex Group, one of the main investors in the business district, said the company plans to add more than 30 projects, with a total investment of over 10 billion yuan, this year.

In recent years, Tianjin has taken concrete steps to enhance consumer experiences, increase the 24-hour supply of goods and services, and constantly improve consumer satisfaction, convenience and comfort levels.

Sun Jiannan, director of the municipal commission of commerce, said Tianjin is expected to become an international consumption destination, gathering global consumption resources and attracting worldwide consumers through years of construction efforts.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China"s domestic consumption kept warming up, with the retail sales of consumer goods increasing by 5.8 percent year on year in the first three months, totaling around 11.49 trillion yuan. In March alone, retail sales jumped 10.6 percent year on year.

The gradually improved consumption market has positive spillover effects for the world. For instance, China"s recovering outbound and inbound travels are injecting new impetus into the global tourism market.

Data showed that the number of inbound passengers on Tianjin Airlines" international flights increased by 87.8 percent year on year since the beginning of the year.

In July 2021, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing took the lead in China in building international consumption center cities.

"It"s a one-stop shopping experience for me to buy international brands of cosmetics, foods and clothing all at the same time in a modern shopping complex in Tianjin," said 19-year-old Nicole Kueh Shian Maun, a student from Malaysia studying at Tianjin University.

Recently, many international organizations have raised their forecasts for China"s economic growth this year.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast, the world economy will grow 2.8 percent in 2023, while China"s economic growth will increase from 3 percent in 2022 to 5.2 percent in 2023.

"A vibrant Chinese consumer market will provide important support for world economic recovery," said Yu Yongding, an expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.■

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