Online travel, take-out food, and mobile game sectors become new engines for China's economic growth: report

The online travel, take-out food and mobile game industries, which are based on mobile Internet technology, have emerged as new engines for China’s economic growth, according to the Annual Report on China’s Mobile Internet Development (2022) issued by the Research Institute of the People’s Daily Online on June 29.

As of December 2021, the number of China’s online travel booking users reached 397 million, up 54.66 million from the same period in the previous year, the report said. Tourist destinations and museums across the country rolled out new types of cultural and tourism products, including virtual tours, online exhibitions, and online performances via livestreaming, virtual reality, and other technologies. Meanwhile, “silver surfers” injected a new impetus into the development of the online travel industry. Statistics released by online travel agency Ctrip indicated that the number of users above the age of 60 years old on the platform increased 22 percent in 2021 from a year ago and the number of orders they placed surged by 37 percent.

By December 2021, users on China’s online food delivery platforms stood at 544 million, up 29.9 percent year-on-year. Data from Chinese food delivery giant Meituan showed that the revenue from its food delivery business in the first three quarters of 2021 rose 28 percent year-on-year to more than 26 billion yuan (about $3.88 billion).

According to the report, the number of gamers in China meanwhile hit 666 million as of December 2021. The total value of sales revenue generated in the country’s gaming market increased 6.4 percent year-on-year to reach over 296.5 billion yuan, among which the revenue from mobile games accounted for 76.06 percent of the total. In particular, China’s sales revenue from self-developed games in the overseas market surpassed $18.01 billion, surging 16.59 percent year-on-year.