What’s new: China’s residents did a lot less of the things that they usually do over five-day May Day holiday this year as Covid lockdowns around the country kept people in their homes and money in their wallets.
From Sunday to Wednesday, movie theater box office revenue plummeted 82.3% from last year’s holiday period to 297 million yuan ($44.9 million), according to data from Dengta, an industry data dealer.
Meanwhile, the number of new home sales in 30 major cities plunged 73.1% year-on-year, according to analysts at Nomura Holdings Ltd.
Tourist spending over the holiday fell 43% from the same period last year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.
China State Railway Group Co. Ltd. estimated passenger trips by trains plunged about 72.6% year-on-year over the holiday.
The context: The data show the economic costs of China’s “zero-Covid” policy as strict lockdowns and travel restrictions have disrupted supply chains, industrial production and consumer spending, creating some of the greatest strain to the economy since the first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic caused a 6.8% year-on-year drop in the country’s GDP.
Although daily caseloads have dropped over the past few days, the Nomura economists remain deeply concerned about growth. “The Covid situation remains quite uncertain, the pace of business resumption in reopening regions remains slow amid a new normal of routine PCR tests and Beijing has shown no signs of adjusting the zero-Covid strategy,” they wrote in a note Wednesday.
Related: China’s Labor Day Tourist Spending Plummets Amid Covid Curbs
Contact reporter Guo Yingzhe (yingzheguo@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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