UnionPay Transaction Volume Reached RMB 679 Billion During the 2018 Spring Festival, Marking a Record High

On February 22, UnionPay released the latest purchasing data of the Spring Festival, and interpreted the Chinese Spring Festival for you, according to which, during the 2018 Spring Festival (February 15 to February 21, Chinese Spring Festival’s Eve to the sixth day of the first lunar month), the trading volume of UnionPay network created a new high with the total amount of RMB 679 billion and total number of transactions up to 462 million, with year-on-year growth (Chinese Spring Festival’s Eve to the sixth day of the first lunar month) of 47% and 35% respectively. In addition, the purchasing amount of high-quality catering and cultural entertainment witnessed remarkable enhancement, demonstrating the acceleration of purchasing upgrade.

Proceeding from the purchasing structure, holiday shopping, dinner party, tourism trip and cultural entertainment ranked to be the four subjects of purchasing during the 2018 Spring Festival. As to the specific speed increase, the purchasing enhancement of catering and shopping is situated the front row. During the Spring Festival, the purchasing amount of shopping achieved by UnionPay users experienced the year-on-year growth of 43%, and that of catering purchasing about 50%, among which the growth of high-quality catering service was obvious.

The dinner party during the Spring Festival serves as an inseparable ceremony for reunion of homefolks and welcome of New Year, in addition to being a traditional custom. Over the Spring Festival, the average single purchasing amount of catering nationwide was higher than that in other holidays and festivals, and correspondingly the scale of medium and high catering boosted remarkable increase with year-on-year growth up to 60%. Specifically, the speed increase of purchasing amount of high-quality catering in central and western cities like Shijiazhuang and Hohhot was more vigorous. It was analyzed by Shu Chong, the senior executive of Strategy and Investment Department of China UnionPay, “The Spring Festival ranks to be the most important festival for Chinese people. As people unify with family members or visit relatives and friends, the number of persons in a dinner party gets an inevitable increase, and the priority is given to high-quality restaurants. The rapid popularity of high-quality catering in central and western regions makes the purchasing upgrade tendency in China more prominent, and demonstrates more balanced purchasing level among regions.”

With the unremitting improvement of living standard, in addition to “eating well”, the enrichment of nourishment for the mind has turned into the necessity of more common people. Over the Spring Festival, recreational activities like appreciating drama, watching films and visiting amusement parks were abundant. The recreational purchasing amount of UnionPay network represented by amusement parks experienced the year-on-year growth of 46%, and the literary purchasing amount like films increased by about 70%. Cultural and recreational activities like watching films have gradually become a new custom to spend the Spring Festival.

Regarding the trip, “going home” remains the changeless subject during the Spring Festival. In addition, an increasing number of common people choose to go off on a trip together with family members. According to the trip transaction data, in the twelfth month of the lunar year, the purchasing amount of highway, railway and airline ticketing gradually increased. Over the Spring Festival, the speed increase of aviation purchasing topped the list. Besides, self-driving tour is favored by more people as a result of free routes and more joy. Over the Spring Festival, the purchasing amount of fuel in connection with self-driving tour increased by over 20%.

Purchasing upgrade is also accompanied with the promotion of payment modes. As the experience is unremittingly optimized, functions gradually increased and scenes continuously perfected, mobile payment products of UnionPay have become increasingly popular. Over the Spring Festival, red packet incentive and other similar activities grew vigorously. For instance, the daily average newly-increased users of “Mobile QuickPass” APP witnessed the chain growth of 1.8 times; the transactions completed via UnionPay mobile QuickPass and QR code payment experienced the year-on-year growth of 5.8 times; receiving red packet from “Mobile QuickPass” has become a hot issue, and “payment via mobile phone” and “payment via QR code” turning into a new fashion of common people’s holiday purchasing.

UnionPay is a commonly used payment method of Chinese people when travel abroad. With the popularity of free-and-independent travel and in-depth travel, Chinese people’s outbound travel during this Spring Festival displayed some new features. Firstly, Chinese tourists traveled to more destinations, and used UnionPay cards in 127 countries and regions of the 168 markets where UnionPay is present. In 2017, the figure was 117. Countries and regions along the maritime silk road have become popular destinations. The transaction volume of UnionPay cards in Turkey, Morocco and Sri Lanka etc. grew by more than 100%, and that in UAE and Russia grew by about 40%. Secondly, Chinese tourists’ spending is more diversified. Why shopping is still the major part of tourists’ spending, its proportion is decreasing while the transaction volume at car-rental merchants, entertainment establishments, supermarkets and convenience stores is growing substantially.

In the meantime, the overseas issuing scale of UnionPay cards has reached 90 million, which supports more customers outside mainland China to experience the Chinese New Year in China. During the Spring Festival, the transaction volume of Laos-issued UnionPay cards in mainland China grew by over 3 times year-on-year, and that of UnionPay cards issued in Indonesia, Canada and the US grew about 100% in mainland China. The transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued in Malaysia and Japan also witnessed remarkable growth in the Chinese Mainland.