China's holiday tourism rebound to pre-Covid levels boosts outlook

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Key Points

China's tourism rebounded to pre-Covid 19 levels in the May Day holiday as the number of domestic trips rose by more than two-thirds from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, a welcome boost for the world's second-biggest economy...

If sustained, a recovery in the service sector could ease worries that China's post-pandemic economic recovery could soon lose momentum with the property market still soft, its vast manufacturing sector weak and exports facing persistent headwinds...

Travel-hungry Chinese made 274 million domestic trips during the five-day break that began on Saturday, a rise of 70.8% from a year earlier, and 19% more than during 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on its website...

"The strong holiday tourism data, together with the still-solid April services PMI, bode well for consumption and services recovery in coming months, despite the softening in manufacturing growth momentum," wrote Goldman Sachs in a note...

Total box office collections of May Day movies this year exceeded 1.5 billion yuan by the end of the holiday period, ranking third in May Day box office receipts in Chinese film history, state television reported on Thursday...

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