During the Spring Festival holiday, Nanjing emerged as a popular tourist destination across the country. The Year of the Horse also witnessed a strong start for the consumer market. The festive atmosphere, marked by traditional celebrations, welcoming the God of Wealth, and preparations for work resumption, boosted consumer enthusiasm. Experience-based consumption, dining innovations, and box office performances jointly drove the ongoing holiday spending surge. According to data from the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, supported by a dual approach of policy incentives and events, the spending potential of residents continued to be unleashed. Statistics from China UnionPay Business show that total consumer spending in the city during the holiday increased by 17.1% year-on-year, while the number of consumer transactions rose by 25.1%.
Shopping malls were filled with festive spirit, recording a 14.4% growth in sales revenue. Throughout the holiday, coordinated efforts between municipal and district authorities, along with public-private partnerships, facilitated a variety of themed activities, enhancing the Spring Festival consumption atmosphere. According to monitoring by the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, sample commercial enterprises achieved a total sales revenue of 3.3 billion yuan, an increase of 11.1% compared to the previous year. Among them, shopping malls and complexes saw a sales growth of 14.4%, with foot traffic increasing by 13.5%.
Major commercial districts in Nanjing organized various unique events. Deji Plaza creatively introduced a New Year mascot named "Dream Horse". Central Mall launched a special Spring Festival campaign called "Love in the Year of the Horse", collaborating with Dahua Grand Theater to create a 90th-anniversary timeline corridor and a Dahua Culture Week. MixC World, leveraging its "mall + block + ancient architecture" features, hosted activities such as lantern-lit street tours, lion dances, and processions of the God of Wealth. Jianye Wanda Plaza showcased intangible cultural heritage through shadow play performances, fish lantern parades, and traditional games like ring toss and arrow throwing, integrating folk arts into modern commercial spaces.
Restaurants enhanced the festive dining experience. Major branded restaurants and eateries within large commercial complexes remained open during the holiday. Establishments like Nanjing Da Pai Dang, Xiao Chu Niang, and Lion King Palace actively promoted special New Year's Eve dinner sets, utilizing live streams, delivery, and pick-up services to facilitate bookings and sales of festive meal packages and gift boxes.
Integration of commerce, culture, tourism, and sports created new consumption scenarios. Jinling Changlefang, located between Confucius Temple and Laomendong, began trial operations on the third day of the lunar new year. As East China's first immersive Ming Dynasty cultural space, it blended cultural traditions with interactive experiences, featuring a comprehensive "NPC interaction system". The venue attracted large crowds, with many Nanjing residents visiting with family members. Reports indicate that during the first two days of trial operation, daily visitor numbers exceeded 100,000, and immersive performances were staged more than 20 times per day.
The Confucius Temple-Qinhuai Scenic Area was bustling with activity. The 40th Qinhuai Lantern Festival, themed "Splendor Illuminating the Land, A Happy Chinese New Year", transformed the area into a sea of lanterns. Niushou Mountain, centered on "culture of blessings",精心 crafted a cultural and tourism feast for the new year. According to data from Qunar Travel on February 20, Nanjing Niushou Mountain Cultural Tourism Zone ranked among the top 10 scenic spots for ticket bookings.
Diverse attractions also drew international visitors. Travel agencies hosted tourists from Europe, South America, Singapore, Malaysia, and other regions, with many foreign friends gathering in Nanjing for the festivities. Forecasts from the Nanjing Immigration Border Checkpoint estimated approximately 76,000 inbound and outbound passengers at Nanjing Lukou International Airport during the holiday, including over 5,000 foreign nationals.
This Spring Festival, Nanjing continued to deepen the integration of commerce, culture, tourism, and sports, creating rich consumption scenarios. Venues like Jinling Changlefang, the 40th Qinhuai Lantern Festival, Tangshan, Yuanboyuan, and the "Double Dragons Celebrating the New Year" event in Lishui Helinfang garnered coverage from CCTV, continuously attracting visitors to experience Nanjing's unique Spring Festival ambiance.
Policy measures accelerated the release of consumer potential. Various consumer vouchers ignited spending enthusiasm during the holiday. The city collaborated with Meituan to launch the "Taste of Jiangsu, Family Feast for Reunion" campaign, offering a one-stop experience combining dining, accommodation, and cultural tourism, alongside distributing millions of yuan in online consumption subsidies. Jiangbei New Area issued warm winter dining vouchers with discounts of up to 150 yuan. Jianye District conducted voucher distributions under the "Welcome to Jianye, New Year Gifts" program and a lottery for dining invoice holders to boost spending, helping sustain market warmth. Gulou District partnered with major commercial entities, home appliance, and automotive retailers to distribute millions in consumption subsidies via its "Gulou Star Recommender" mini-program. Jiangning District issued New Year dining vouchers offering savings of up to 500 yuan. Gaochun District released vouchers for four themes: New Year's Eve dinners, hot pot, dine-in meals, and local snacks, with maximum discounts of 288 yuan.
Additionally, "renewal" policies continued to stimulate big-ticket consumption in sectors like automobiles and home appliances. A car trade-in subsidy program provided individual consumers meeting scrappage or replacement criteria with up to 20,000 yuan or 15,000 yuan, respectively. By February 21, Nanjing had received over 9,400 applications for the 2026 car trade-in subsidies. Policies for replacing old home appliances and purchasing new digital and smart products were also implemented, offering subsidies of up to 1,500 yuan per home appliance and 500 yuan per digital or smart product. During the holiday, participating enterprises in Nanjing sold over 18,000 subsidized home appliances and more than 102,000 subsidized digital and smart products.
A lottery invoice campaign also took place during the festival. By February 21, the campaign had recorded 519,000 participant entries, with 2.769 million invoices successfully uploaded.
Essential goods remained abundant and price-stable during the Spring Festival holiday. The market for daily necessities in Nanjing, including meat and vegetables, was well-supplied and operated smoothly. On February 22, the Zhongcai Agricultural Wholesale Market received 1,967.1 tons of vegetables, with a total arrival of 7,295.9 tons from February 15 to 22, marking a 3% increase compared to the same holiday period last year. Government reserves of vegetables in storage amounted to 3,000 tons. The average wholesale price for eight monitored vegetables was 3.6 yuan per kilogram. Government reserves of frozen pork totaled 3,000 tons, while commercial inventories held by Sus Group reached 9,500 tons.