China Golden Week: recovery post COVID-19

In the post COVID-19 era, domestic consumption plays a bigger role in driving economic recovery. Asia, especially North Asia, has the advantage of boosting domestic consumption as the COVID-19 pandemic is largely under control.
The upcoming Golden Week in China could be a good indicator to gauge recovery of Chinese consumption. According to data from online travel booking website Qunar1, China’s domestic air traffic volume is expected to reach a record high during the upcoming “golden week” holiday - domestic flight trips made between Oct 1 and 8 may exceed 15 million, up 10% yoy.
The encouraging pre-booking data of air tickets and hotels so far imply positive normalization trends, which is a key driving force of Chinese consumer activities including dining, shopping and entertainment in the post-pandemic era.
With better virus containment, China resumes consumer activities ahead of other parts of Asia. That said, we also observe positive trends in Korea, Taiwan, and India signalling domestic consumer recovery at different pace.
Consumer companies in Asia are quick to offer discounts and incentives aiming to capture every dollar of the pent-up spending and customer loyalty by offering elevated customer experience. We believe the latest development in Asia consumerism brings good investment opportunities.