The 2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival, featuring the longest holiday period in history, became a uniquely significant national family reunion season. The extended time together not only prolonged the festive atmosphere but also ignited a diverse, high-quality consumption boom. Based on publicly available information, data from retail, catering, culture, and tourism sectors during the holiday period, along with consumption reports released by various provinces and cities, have been compiled and analyzed. Overall, three key consumption trends—reverse migration, personalized experiences, and health-conscious spending—gained strong traction. From family reunions and cultural travel to daily necessities and quality upgrades, the 2026 Spring Festival consumption market delivered impressive results.

The consumption market demonstrated robust momentum, with festive-themed travel, warm-weather escapes, and intangible cultural heritage tours gaining popularity. According to a WeChat team report titled "Spring Festival Consumption at Full Gallop" released on February 23, benefiting from the extended holiday, Spring Festival consumption continued to rise. Transactions via WeChat Pay for travel and lifestyle/entertainment increased by over 20%. Domestically, festive travel, winter sun getaways, and heritage tours all saw growth. WeChat data indicated that transaction volumes at scenic spots in Nanchong and Kaifeng surged over 50% year-on-year, while Suzhou, Huangshan, Xi'an, and Putian saw increases exceeding 30%. Duty-free transactions via mini-programs in Hainan grew 81% year-on-year. For cross-border payments, destinations containing the character for "horse" were highly popular. Malaysia and the Maldives welcomed large numbers of Chinese tourists, with offline transaction values soaring 131% and 186% year-on-year, respectively. WeChat mini-programs performed exceptionally well globally, with total transaction value increasing over 65% year-on-year.

Dining out emerged as a mainstream choice. Data showed that compared to the same period last year, orders for reunion meal packages on Douyin increased by 216%, group buying sales for "intangible cultural heritage + market" experiences skyrocketed 764%, and group buying sales in third-tier and lower cities grew 66%. The Spring Festival consumption market exhibited a new pattern of diversified upgrades and widespread activity. In 2026, the offline consumption market operated at full capacity, with strong public spending意愿. Douyin Life Services data indicated the number of merchants operating through the holiday increased 33% year-on-year, with their sales growing 65%. Dining out became a primary choice for family gatherings and celebrations. Data showed orders for small family reunion meal packages (3-6 people) increased 61% during the holiday. On New Year's Eve, orders for set meal packages on Douyin surged 245% year-on-year. Local cuisine was the most popular category for New Year's Eve dinners on the platform, with orders increasing 343% year-on-year on that day.

Beauty salons, outdoor sports, and craft workshops became new social venues. Meituan's latest "Young Forces, Hosting Reunions – 2026 Spring Festival Consumption Insights Report" revealed comprehensive growth in lifestyle service consumption during the holiday, characterized by bustling gatherings, popular travel, lively entertainment, busy gift-giving, and hot beauty services. The report data showed consumption orders in many cities increased 50% year-on-year, with the average person visiting 2.2 cities. Furthermore, spending by "exclusive family groups" of 2-5 people grew 186% year-on-year, and multi-person vacation spending increased 79%. Notably, orders for pet-friendly hotels rose 16.2%, as more pet owners chose to celebrate the New Year with their furry companions. Young people's holiday gatherings expanded beyond meals, with beauty salons, esports/media rooms, outdoor sports, and craft workshops becoming new social spaces. Orders for esports/media leisure hotels by young people in first-tier cities increased 40% year-on-year.

Post-00s consumption displayed distinct "self-pleasure and pleasing others" attributes. A Xiaohongshu "2026 Spring Festival New Trends Report" indicated that post-00s are transitioning from "Spring Festival participants" to "Spring Festival hosts." They are redefining the holiday's rituals and values through personalized New Year goods, creative decorations, and emotional consumption. Guo Chao Spring Festival couplets, intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, and blessing blind boxes became favorites. New Year purchases are no longer just necessities but carriers of emotional value and personal expression. Data showed that in the post-00s Spring Festival budget allocation, 80% was spent on emotional value goods like blind boxes, IP co-branded items, stress-relief toys, and health foods, while traditional "face-saving" expenditures accounted for only 20%. In contrast, post-90s and post-80s groups still allocated 30%-40% of their budgets to presentable gift boxes and traditional New Year goods. According to Tmall's New Year shopping festival data, post-00s have become the fastest-growing driver of New Year goods consumption, accounting for over 30% of total transaction value, with spending per order increasing 47% year-on-year. They highly socialize consumption by sharing shopping carts, "planting seeds" for products, and grouping orders for discounts on platforms like Xiaohongshu, influencing family purchasing decisions.

JD.com platform data showed that during the Spring Festival holiday, sales of smart glasses and drones both increased over 100% year-on-year. Sales of fruit and vegetable cleaners surged over 500%, beauty devices grew over 300%, and trendy lifestyle appliances, electric cooking pots, and multi-functional cleaners saw sales increases exceeding 100%. Reportedly, younger consumers are more willing to pay for emotion and experience, making trendy toys and cultural creative products highly popular during the holiday. JD.com data indicated sales of trendy blind boxes grew over 100% year-on-year, and cultural creative supplies increased 90%. Pop Mart's "Starman" series, Guo Chao designed gold jewelry, and intangible cultural heritage refrigerator magnets became consumption hotspots for young demographics.

The 2026 Spring Festival marked the first year of mass AI adoption. Various experiential, immersive, and interactive consumption scenarios emerged during the holiday, with首发economy, digital consumption, AI+ consumption, IP+ consumption, and Guo Chao consumption full of vitality. JD.com data showed sales of AI-related products doubled year-on-year, with mobile phones, laptops, toys, and smart glasses attracting significant consumer attention. Notably, viewing through the window of 2026 Spring Festival consumption trends reveals AI's deepening integration into daily life. A Fliggy representative stated that using AI to order meals, book flights/hotels, and buy movie tickets became a new "folk custom" during the holiday, with AI-booked travel services experiencing a major boom. Throughout the holiday, Fliggy's AI orders increased over 800% compared to pre-holiday levels, with simple, cost-effective AI ticket bookings being most popular, surging over 24 times. Mount Emei, Huangshan Scenic Area, and Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden were top destinations for AI ticket bookings. Importantly, the 2026 Spring Festival may represent a watershed for AI development in China. From early February to New Year's Eve, the large language model industry witnessed an unprecedented release wave, intensifying technological competition. Tech giants Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu invested nearly 5 billion yuan, deeply integrating AI with Spring Festival Gala interactions and red envelope activities, creating a nationwide AI普及scene. During the holiday, nearly 4 million users over 60 tried AI ordering for the first time; over 34 million people shared red envelopes via Yuanbao, with nearly half from lower-tier markets. Within two weeks, the 2026 Spring Festival accomplished the largest-scale user启蒙for AI, truly becoming the "first year of mass AI adoption in China."

The 2026 Spring Festival film box office nearly halved, dropping nearly 40%. According to data from the China Film Administration, as of 9:00 AM on February 24, the 2026 Spring Festival box office revenue reached 5.752 billion yuan with 120 million admissions. Data from Maoyan Research Institute indicated the total box office for this year's Spring Festival period decreased 39.5% year-on-year, hitting an 8-year low. During the period, only the first day of the New Year saw single-day box office exceed 1 billion yuan, marking the first time in nearly six years the average daily box office was below 1 billion yuan. Additionally, the average daily admissions dropped 36.4% year-on-year to 16.97 million. The occupancy rate on the first day of the New Year was below 40%, with the average audience per session being the lowest in nearly six years.

Consumption in key cities climbed during the Spring Festival holiday. Various regions focused on promoting consumption and optimizing supply, resulting in a strong festive atmosphere, continued recovery in offline consumption, sustained vitality in online consumption, and simultaneous growth in goods and service consumption, painting a vibrant picture of the Spring Festival economy.

* **Beijing:** During the extended holiday (February 15-23, Lunar Dec 28 to Jan 7), Beijing's consumption market started strong. Key monitored enterprises in sectors like department stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, catering, and e-commerce achieved cumulative sales of 8.45 billion yuan. Physical commerce performed particularly well, growing 12.4% year-on-year. Based on mobile signaling and third-party big data, passenger traffic in 60 key business districts reached 51.094 million人次, up 5.8% year-on-year, generating consumption value of 15.43 billion yuan, a 2.2% increase. * **Shanghai:** The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce reported that during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday (Feb 15-22, Lunar Dec 28 to Jan 6), the city's total online and offline consumption reached 60.35 billion yuan, up 12.8% year-on-year. Offline consumption amounted to 36.55 billion yuan (up 15.4%), while online consumption was 23.8 billion yuan (up 8.9%). Shanghai continued its "New Year Shopping Season" with six themes. 19 municipal-level business districts achieved total consumption of 4.78 billion yuan, up 12.0%, with average daily footfall of 3.19 million人次, up 15.8%. Key districts like West Nanjing Road (sales +28.1%) and North Bund (+36.0%) performed well. Tax-free sales for departing travelers exceeded 80 million yuan, up 150%. Consumption by non-local visitors reached 17.39 billion yuan, up 5.4%. Districts issued over 110 million yuan in consumption vouchers, driving retail and catering consumption over 500 million yuan, with a redemption rate over 80%. * **Tianjin:** In the first five days of the holiday, 473 key monitored enterprises achieved cumulative sales of 1.84 billion yuan, up 10.3%; store traffic reached 10.505 million人次, up 10.7%. Policy effects were significant. Sales of trade-in and upgrade goods like digital products and home appliances exceeded 30,000 units. Sales of mid-to-high-end consumer goods on New Year's Eve increased 79.7% year-on-year. 250 monitored catering enterprises achieved nearly 45 million yuan in revenue in the first five days, peaking on New Year's Eve. Cultural and entertainment consumption sales grew 15.6%. * **Chongqing:** Total consumption during the holiday increased 7.8% year-on-year. Overnight international tourist arrivals reached 28,500, up 52.1%. Tongcheng Travel data showed Chongqing remained a top-five destination. Retail sales grew 7.1%, service retail sales grew 8.5%, and catering revenue grew 9.4%. Sales in 20 key downtown business districts increased 6.5%. * **Hebei:** From Feb 15-22, key monitored retail and catering enterprises achieved total sales of 2.578 billion yuan, up 9.3% compared to the 2025 holiday. Retail sales were 2.513 billion yuan (up 9.4%), catering revenue was 64.564 million yuan (up 4.0%). * **Henan:** Key monitored retail and catering enterprises achieved total sales/ revenue of 2.84 billion yuan, showing stable growth. 19 characteristic business streets in Zhengzhou saw average daily footfall over 1.25 million人次 and operating revenue over 70 million yuan, up over 15%. Retail revenue was 2.79 billion yuan, flat year-on-year. Sales of tobacco/alcohol, apparel, footwear/hats, and sports/entertainment goods increased 21%, 9.4%, 6.7%, and 3.3% respectively. * **Sichuan:** 411 monitored retail enterprises achieved sales of 2.78 billion yuan, up 10.9%. 120 new consumption scenes attracted over 56 million visits, generating sales over 4.6 billion yuan. Fliggy data showed Chengdu was a top-three "first stop" for foreign tourists. Consumption by out-of-province tourists reached 31.088 billion yuan offline, up 14.05%, with top contributing provinces being Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. * **Shaanxi:** 570 retail and catering sample enterprises achieved sales of 2.062 billion yuan during the holiday. Retail sales were 1.852 billion yuan (up 7.41%), with Yulin leading growth at 31.79%. Catering revenue was 210 million yuan (up 10.76%), with dine-in up 9.44% and takeaway/delivery up 27.47%. Luckin Coffee revenue grew 50.65%. * **Hunan:** Total consumption during the holiday reached 100.323 billion yuan, up 7.62%. Goods sales were 41.61 billion yuan (up 6.02%), service sales were 58.712 billion yuan (up 8.79%). Approximately 206,700 trade-in subsidies were applied for, amounting to 85 million yuan and driving sales of 692 million yuan. This included about 590 vehicle trade-ins (40% NEVs), 46,600 home appliances, and 159,500 digital/smart products. * **Hubei:** Based on UnionPay Smart data, retail and catering transaction value in the first 7 days of the holiday (Feb 15-21) reached 30.55 billion yuan, up 11.57% compared to the first 7 days of the 2025 holiday. * **Guangxi:** During the holiday, footfall in 30 key pedestrian streets/business districts increased 37%, with sales up 19%. Specific areas like Wuzhou Qilou City and Baise Jiefang Street saw footfall and revenue more than double. Footfall and revenue in 16 Wanda Plazas grew 32.5% and 22% respectively. Transactions on the Yunshanfu platform increased 20.2%. 169 retail/catering enterprises saw sales increase 10.2%. Local life service consumption grew 20% year-on-year. 20 key catering enterprises saw revenue increase 19.4%. * **Xinjiang:** Key monitored retail and catering enterprise sales increased 6.1% year-on-year. Sales of grains/oils/food, apparel, beverages, daily necessities, cosmetics, and communication devices grew 19.9%, 14.8%, 14.6%, 13.7%, 13.2%, and 5.0% respectively. * **Guangzhou:** Citywide consumption increased 11.25% year-on-year. Beverages, communication devices, cosmetics, and apparel saw significant growth (38.5%, 22.3%, 28.6%, 15.2%). Catering consumption grew 13.1%. * **Shenzhen:** Over the nine-day holiday (Feb 15-23), overall footfall in 30 key business districts increased 18.7% year-on-year, with operating revenue up 15.24%. Futian district saw footfall of 8.45 million人次 (+2.43%) and sales of approximately 774.657 million yuan (+4.05%). Bao'an district's 10 key districts saw footfall of 5.5726 million人次 (+32.67%) and sales of 605 million yuan (+16.42%). * **Hangzhou:** Total consumption during the holiday reached 17.749 billion yuan (across five sectors), up 7.6%. Retail sales were 9.799 billion yuan (+8.7%), catering consumption was 3.845 billion yuan (+15.0%). Key business districts like Shangcheng's Hubin, Wushan, and Qianjiang New City saw consumption of 1.359 billion yuan (+20.77%). Wulin business district footfall increased 19.4%. Eight key commercial complexes in Xiaoshan achieved sales of 140 million yuan (+27%). Qiantang's Jinsha Lake district consumption exceeded 86 million yuan (+50%). * **Ningbo:** From Feb 15-22, 50 key sample enterprises achieved total sales of 911 million yuan, up 12.5%. Supermarket sales were 283 million yuan (+15.32%). Shopping malls and department stores achieved sales of 288 million yuan and 155 million yuan respectively. Apparel and footwear sales grew 19.03% and 17.26%. Catering revenue reached 59.1051 million yuan (+18.09%). * **Nanjing:** In the first six days of the holiday, key monitored commercial enterprises achieved sales of 2.01 billion yuan, up 10.9%. Tourist attractions received 9.917 million visits in the first five days, up 15.6%. * **Suzhou:** 100 key commercial enterprises are expected to achieve sales of 1.953 billion yuan during the holiday, up 5.8% year-on-year. * **Qingdao:** 10 key monitored commercial enterprises achieved cumulative sales of 370 million yuan during the holiday, up 9.9% year-on-year. * **Linyi:** 43 key retail sample enterprises achieved total sales of 217 million yuan during the holiday (Feb 15-22), up 7.1%. Five catering sample enterprises achieved revenue of 1.351 million yuan, up 9.97%. * **Haikou:** In the first 7 days of the holiday, 22 key commercial areas achieved cumulative revenue of 255 million yuan, a significant 39.1% increase year-on-year; footfall exceeded 2.372 million人次, up 7.1%. Duty-free sales in Haikou reached 882 million yuan (+8.6%); island resident duty-free sales were 2.216 million yuan.

Key business districts experienced explosions in both foot traffic and sales. During the 2026 Spring Festival, the national retail and catering consumption market showed strong growth. According to Ministry of Commerce big data monitoring, the average daily sales of key retail and catering enterprises in the first 4 days of the holiday increased 8.6% compared to the first 4 days of the 2025 holiday. Consumption structure exhibited three key features: 1) K-shaped divergence intensified; 2) Green, smart, healthy, and experiential consumption became the new主线; 3) Policies like trade-in programs, consumption vouchers, and shopping festivals synergized, boosting both big-ticket item and service consumption, with average transaction prices for vehicle trade-ins rising significantly.

Amid the consumption boom, key business districts nationwide ignited spending enthusiasm through scene innovation, format integration, and cultural empowerment. * **Beijing:** Various districts launched特色consumption activities. The Longfusi business district's New Year market, integrating diverse formats, saw footfall increase 4.2 times year-on-year. The Wanli·Wangfujing WellTown project drove footfall in the Universal Studios商圈up 2.2 times. Taikoo Li Sanlitun's cultural theme exhibition increased district footfall by 20.7%. The Shougang Park's diverse activities drove consumption up 23.6%. * **Shanghai:** The "Wu Dong New Year" shopping season continued. Yangpu District's activities in key areas like Wujiaochang saw main commercial complexes' holiday revenue increase 17.3% year-on-year. Specific projects like "Capybara City Amusement Park" and IP collaborations drove significant traffic and service consumption growth (+30%). The district issued over 100 million yuan in consumption vouchers. Suning.com saw mobile phone sales increase 21%. Bailian Another City's live streaming and offline activities drove categories like gold sales up over 50%. * **Nanjing:** The newly opened "Jinling Changle Square" saw average daily footfall exceed 100,000人次 in its first two days. Deji Plaza saw daily footfall exceed 300,000人次 during the holiday, over 70% higher than usual, driven by new store and product launches. * **Qingdao:** Commercial complexes deeply integrated tradition with modern consumption. Qingdao首创Outlets achieved sales of 20 million yuan (+53%) and footfall increase of 50%. Qingdao Carnaval·Hisense Plaza achieved sales near 150 million yuan (+35%) and footfall near 300,000人次 (+43%). Qingdao Wanda Laixi Shopping Plaza saw holiday footfall increase 21% and sales grow 18.4%. * **Guangzhou:** Traditional flavor was blended with modern consumption. Key districts launched distinctive themes. Beijing Road Pedestrian Street and Changlong Wanbo received 4.2815 million and 3.5697 million visits respectively (up 6.43% and 10% year-on-year). Changlong Wanbo's turnover was 318 million yuan (+3%). The "first store economy" continued to attract crowds.

The consumption heat extended to the餐饮market. Nationally, restaurant reservations for New Year's Eve dinners were火爆, with tables being hard to find, as demand for reunion meals and特色cuisine concentrated释放. In the first two days of the holiday, the average daily sales of key national retail and catering enterprises increased 10.6% compared to the same period in the 2025 Spring Festival, achieving a true "strong start." Meituan data showed orders for大众catering (人均50-80 yuan) increased 42% year-on-year. Stores of affordable chains like Lao Xiang Ji, Mixue Bingcheng, and Luckin saw sales double. Haidilao data indicated it served over 7 million customers in the first 5 days of the holiday nationwide, with customer traffic on New Year's Eve and the first day increasing over 10% year-on-year.

From retail to catering, the consumption boom driven by the extended holiday revitalized physical commerce with vibrancy and prosperity, laying a strong foundation for the recovery of the 2026 consumption market.