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Consumer spending during China’s Lunar New Year topped the pre-pandemic level as travel surged. Total domestic trips for the eight-day long holiday from February 10-17 were up 34.3% year-over-year to 474M, while tourism receipts grew 47.3% to 632.6M yuan ($89M). Average spending per trip this year reached 1,335 yuan vs. 1,238 yuan in 2019, according to a calculation from Reuters. Notably, 18M trips were made by air in China during the holiday period, while 99.5M railway trip were made, both up dramatically from pre-COVID levels. Air China Limited (OTCPK:AIRYY), China Southern Airlines (OTCPK:CHKIF), and China Eastern Airlines (OTCPK:CHEAF) are the three largest airlines in China.
Macau casinos were clear beneficiaries of the holiday travel boom. On February 12th, Macau received 217,448 tourists, which was noted to mark the highest daily visitor arrivals tally since the pandemic and the second-highest daily visitor tally in history behind the 226,326 visitors seen on February 7, 2019, just before the pandemic broke. The list of casino-related stocks that could see a Q1 earnings boost includes Wynn Macau (OTCPK:WYNMF) (OTCPK:WYNMY), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Sands China (OTCPK:SCHYY) (OTCPK:SCHYF), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), MGM China (OTCPK:MCHVF), (OTCPK:MCHVY), MGM Resorts (MGM), Galaxy Entertainment (OTCPK:GXYEF), SJM Holdings (OTCPK:SJMHF), (OTCPK:SJMHY), Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MLCO), Studio City International (MSC).
Across retail, companies like Alibaba (BABA), Baozun (BZUN), Shein, Dada Nexus (DADA), JD.com (JD), Temu, PDD Holdings (PDD), and Shein may have benefited from the burst of holiday spending. Another highlight over the holiday period was movie attendance as China’s box office revenue exceeded 8B yuan over the eight days, according to the China Film Administration. That figure bodes well for IMAX’s (IMAX) (OTCPK:IMXCF) China business.
Other China-based stocks traded in the U.S. of interest include Yum China (YUMC), Luckin Coffee (OTCPK:LKNCY), Tuniu (TOUR), H World Group (HTHT), Jowell Global (JWEL), and Trip.com (TRIP).
Looking ahead, Chinese authorities with the Ministry of Commerce branding have branded 2024 as the “Year of Consumption Promotion” even as some analysts continue to express doubts that consumer spending will remain strong. Nomura recently warned that China’s economy could worsen into the spring because Beijing has not been able to revive the real estate sector.
