CRI听力:More Trips and Spending During Chinese National Holiday

Data from Chinese bank card company UnionPay shows consumer spending on tourist-related activities during the National Holiday increased by nearly 45-percent compared to the same period last year.

UnionPay claims its stats show spending on transportation surged a massive 86-percent this National Day holiday compared with 2014.

The Ministry of Transport says an estimated 651-million domestic trips were made during the seven-day holiday.

On a regional level, scenic areas in Xinjiang saw the fastest pace of growth in ticket incomes compared to other parts of China.

But at the same time, outbound travel was also popular during this year's holiday.

Lu Bei is with a leading Chinese travel agency.

She says major international cities, including London and Paris, appeared to be quite popular.

"All of our outbound travel was booked two months ago. Trips to Europe, the US and Australia increased by 150 percent. At the same time, trips to popular destinations like London and Paris increased by some 200 percent."

The number of trips to Japan also appears to have been on the rise.

Chinese travel booking website Ctrip says Japan is proving to be one of the most popular overseas destination for Chinese tourists during the holiday.

This year's holiday has also seen a growing number of Chinese people use credit cards to finance their trips.

UnionPay says the total transactions amount through credit cards has hit a new high during the week-long holiday, up nearly 30 percent.

Chen Han, data analyst at UnionPay, says one thing they have noticed is that the number of interbank transactions, which are an indication of overall sales, slowed down this year during the holiday.

He says the timing of the holiday on the calendar is one of the factors.

"The growth rate of interbank transactions during the national holiday slowed down because of the working days. This year saw the mid-autumn festival and the national day holiday fall very close together. If someone asked for three-days-leave, they could link the two holidays together for a total of 12 days off, which naturally means earlier spending by many ahead of October 1st. This is why shops were giving out national holiday promotion deals earlier. This prompted many consumers to go out and spend earlier this year."

The same UnionPay report show shows people in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong were the biggest spenders during the holiday.

The use of mobile apps for travel and food delivery services also increased significantly during the National Day holiday.

Observers in China have been suggesting the use of mobile apps is reshaping consumption patterns in China through their ease of use, as well as the discounts many companies provide in promoting the use of their mobile app service.

For CRI, I'm Min Rui.