China’s overseas consumption booms during Spring Festival

(People's Daily Online)    13:24, February 12, 2019

(Photo/Chinadaily.com.cn)

Overseas consumption of Chinese citizens experienced a surge during the just-concluded Spring Festival, according to statistics released by Chinese mobile payment service provider Alipay on Feb. 11.

Though citizens from Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen contributed the most to overseas consumption during this period, the overseas consumption growth in the third- and fourth-tier cities exceeded that of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In addition, statistics indicate that middle-aged as well as senior citizens were becoming a major group of outbound tourists. The number of Chinese mobile payment users born during the 1960s expanded by 1.3 times this year, and this group is behaving more and more like those in younger generations – traveling with no wallets or purses.

According to a report jointly released by Alipay and Nielsen before the Spring Festival, 32 percent of the transactions made by Chinese outbound tourists were handled through mobile payment platforms, thereby exceeding cash payment for the first time in history. Meanwhile, nearly 70 percent of Chinese tourists had used mobile payment methods while at overseas destinations.

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