China’s holiday spending boom masks patchy recovery

HUNDREDS of millions of travellers swarmed China’s tourist hotspots during the recent Labour Day holiday, painting a rosy picture of a rebound in the closely watched gauge of consumer spending.

But the latest economic data is patchy and analysts are worried that lingering weaknesses in areas such as manufacturing and real estate are holding back a full recovery.

During the five-day break – the first normal holiday for many Chinese after three years of strict Covid-19 controls – around 270 million domestic trips were made by car, rail, airplane and waterways from Apr 29 through May 3, with the daily average up 163 per cent from last year, according to the Ministry of Transport.