UnionPay sees record transaction during holiday

Total transaction value of China UnionPay reached a new record of 1.38 trillion yuan ($213.40 billion) during the Lunar New Year holiday this year, up 4.8 percent on a yearly basis.

During the weeklong holiday, local consumption expenditures by people who stayed put accounted for a larger part of the total consumer spending —13.6 percentage points higher than the same period of last year, said the Chinese bank card organization on Thursday.

By regions, Chongqing municipality, Jiangxi province and Qinghai province recorded the fastest growth in consumption expenditures, seeing a year-on-year increase of more than 15 percent each.

In terms of hotel and lodging, consumer spending increased by more than 50 percent in Qinghai province, Tibet autonomous region and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In terms of catering, consumer spending rose more than 40 percent in Zhejiang, Qinghai and Heilongjiang provinces.

In terms of cross-border consumption, the value of transactions via domestically-issued UnionPay cards rose by over 35 percent year-on-year in Macao during the holiday, as the number of mainland tourists to Macao gradually rebounds after effective control of COVID-19 in Macao, UnionPay said.