Consumption booms in Ningbo during May Day holiday

People crowd around a stage at a commercial block in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, during the May Day holiday. [Photo/Ningbo Evening News]

The level of in-store consumption in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, rebounded strongly during this year's May Day holiday that ended on May 3.

The sales of 50 monitored businesses, including shopping malls, supermarkets, car dealerships, hotels, and restaurants, in the city totaled 852 million yuan ($123.39 million) during the five-day break, statistics from the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce show.

The figure marked an increase of 10.7 percent from the previous May Day holiday and an uptick of 17.2 percent compared with the same holiday in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Of the 50 surveyed businesses, seven shopping malls, seven department stores, 14 specialty stores and nine restaurants recorded positive growth in sales during the five-day period.

The sales of the 13 supermarkets monitored, however, shrank by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 130 million yuan, slightly less than the same period in 2019.

The issuance of coupons during the holiday bolstered a boom in car sales in Ningbo. Official statistics show that the four surveyed car dealerships in the city generated 47.44 million yuan in sales from April 28 to May 1, an increase of 108 percent year-on-year.