Alipay and WeChat Pay data shows China consumer spending over May holidays exceeded pre-Covid levels

Travel-related purchases by Chinese consumers using Alipay, a major digital payments app, jumped 70 per cent between April 29 and May 1, the first three days of the five-day national holiday, compared with the same period in 2019, according to an Alipay statement.

The figure was also triple last year’s spending level, when major cities such as Shanghai were under stringent pandemic lockdowns, according to Alipay, which is owned by Ant Group, a fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba also owns the South China Morning Post.

Meanwhile, average daily transactions at rival WeChat Pay, owned by Tencent Holdings, nearly tripled for transport-related spending during the first four days of this year’s holiday compared with the same period in 2019, while the figure for hotel and tourist attractions jumped 93 per cent.

The Alipay and WeChat Pay digital wallets account for more than 90 per cent of the mobile payments market in China and their data paints a broad picture of a consumer spending recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

A total of 274 million people went on trips within the mainland during the holiday, 19 per cent more than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic hit, generating revenue of 148 billion yuan (US$21 billion), up 0.7 per cent, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.