The recent May Day holiday witnessed a resurgence of traffic jams on highways and crowded scenes in commercial districts and tourist attractions. According to data from the Ministry of Transport, cross-regional population movement across society during the 2026 May Day holiday reached 1.517 billion trips. Cities and villages across the country were filled with vibrant activity and a surge in consumer spending. The People's Bank of China reported that payment networks processed 28.937 billion transactions totaling 7.85 trillion yuan during the holiday period. Behind this lies an invisible yet powerful payment network. China UnionPay, in collaboration with industry partners, leveraged its advantages as a payment hub and digital service platform. Utilizing its full product matrix including the UnionPay App, UnionPay cards, and UnionPay credit card installment services, it implemented a coordinated strategy to boost consumption across key areas such as dining, cultural and sports events, ticket stub economy, incentive invoices, and trade-in programs. Significant growth was observed in multiple key consumption scenarios, indicating vigorous development in payment-based consumption.
The "Super City League," which emerged and gained popularity in 2025, became even more heated this year. On April 18, actor Peter Ho appeared in a "King of Western Chu" costume at the Suqian team's home game, igniting excitement around the "Su Super League." Billions of social media impressions quickly translated into tangible increases in cultural tourism consumption. UnionPay data shows that from the league's opening day on April 11 to April 27, compared to non-game weekends, dining and entertainment consumption in Jiangsu province saw transaction volume increase by 4.3% and transaction value by 5.6%. General merchandise consumption saw transaction volume rise by 10.5% and value by 7.8%. Transportation consumption experienced an 18.23% increase in transaction volume and a 35.65% surge in value. During the May Day holiday weekend coinciding with "Su Super League" games (May 2-3), cross-city consumption value in various Jiangsu cities increased by 36% year-on-year, with cross-city transaction volume up 6.1% year-on-year.
This year's Government Work Report proposed "actively developing the event economy." The event economy features spillover and long-tail effects, with broad consumer reach and strong industrial driving force. Under the combined influence of the May Day holiday and the "Su Super League," consumption in multiple sectors in Jiangsu province showed strong growth. UnionPay data indicates that during the entire May Day period, per capita spending in Jiangsu increased by 44% compared to the same period last year. The exciting matches not only ignited fans' enthusiasm but also linked together consumption chains involving spectating, travel, dining, and shopping, triggering a cultural tourism consumption boom across the province. Capitalizing on the league's popularity, UnionPay coordinated with various Jiangsu localities to launch event-specific consumption promotion activities, effectively activating holiday consumption potential across the province.
Mr. Lin, a fan from Anhui, stated that while his "Su Super League" ticket cost only 20 yuan, his family spent a weekend in Changzhou, visiting multiple landmark attractions and sampling local delicacies. Over three days, dining expenses approached 2,000 yuan, round-trip high-speed rail and accommodation costs were about 5,000 yuan, and shopping for clothing and intangible cultural heritage products in commercial districts brought total spending to over 10,000 yuan. Mr. Li, a fan from Yangzhou, applied early for "Su Super League" exclusive consumption coupons on the UnionPay App, taking his family to a home game during the holiday for an immersive experience. The Li family also planned outings, meals, and shopping trips, saving nearly 1,000 yuan using the coupons throughout their activities. "It's a rare opportunity to watch a game and travel with family, enjoying happy times while getting real discounts," he said.
Following the explosive popularity of the "Su Super League" in May 2025, the "one city, one team + cultural tourism integration" model quickly replicated nationwide. By May 2026, nearly 20 provincial-level regions had launched their own "Super" city football leagues. Events like "Min Super," "Chu Super," and "Yue Super" swept across the country, frequently resulting in sold-out tickets. "Traveling to a city for a match" became a new choice for more people. UnionPay data shows that on May 1-2, when two "Min Super" matches were held in Xiamen and Quanzhou in Fujian province, the province's consumption value and transaction volume increased by 3.3% and 4.9% year-on-year respectively compared to pre-game April. On May 1, consumption value and transaction volume in Xiamen's five key scenarios grew by 30.2% and 30.0% week-on-week respectively. Among these, accommodation, dining, and shopping scenarios saw significant week-on-week increases, with consumption value growth exceeding 30%. On May 2, consumption value and transaction volume in Quanzhou's five key scenarios increased by 19.0% and 17.5% week-on-week respectively. Accommodation and dining scenarios showed substantial week-on-week growth, with accommodation scenario consumption value and transaction volume surging over 50%.
In the "Qilu Super" event, China UnionPay, using the UnionPay App as the core platform, created a full-cycle exclusive service and benefits system covering pre-game, during-game, and post-game periods, making spectating more convenient and consumption more economical for fans. The UnionPay App launched a Qilu Super event zone containing activities like completing tasks to win tickets, discounted ticket purchases, event schedules, point rankings, home game discounts, "Qilu Super" dining-shopping-tourism offers, and ticket stub rewards. This provided fans with exclusive discounts across multiple scenarios including travel, dining, attractions, and accommodation, realizing the concept of "one ticket for play, earnings, food, stay, travel, and shopping."
The popularity of city leagues, superficially a public carnival around amateur sports, fundamentally represents the best illustration of the "event economy"—starting with an inexpensive ticket, China UnionPay uses a consumption promotion network to link together a complete city league ecosystem of spectating, travel, dining, and shopping, serving up a consumption feast of "sports + commerce + cultural tourism" for residents and tourists.
Beyond watching games, sampling local cuisine was a top priority for tourists during the holiday. China UnionPay focused on the vibrant atmosphere closest to daily life, partnering with industry allies and local catering sectors during May Day to launch consumption promotion activities, with consumers enjoying discounts through the UnionPay App. During the holiday, UnionPay facilitated the redemption of 376 million yuan in consumption vouchers across service consumption areas like incentive invoices, cultural tourism, dining, and shopping, driving 1.816 billion yuan in transactions. In Shanghai, consumers could claim "40 off 200" and "20 off 100" dining coupons for free via the "Global Gourmet Hub" zone in the UnionPay App. In Dalian, consumers using UnionPay payment codes or scan-to-pay for purchases over 79 yuan enjoyed random instant discounts. In Guangdong, consumers accessed the "Food in Guangdong" activity page on the UnionPay App, claimed coupons based on their city, and enjoyed instant discounts using payment codes.
Beyond dining consumption, UnionPay collaborated with its subsidiary UnionPay Merchant Services to create an incentive invoice solution. After completing purchases for shopping or dining, consumers simply need to request an invoice and participate in a lottery via the UnionPay App for a chance to receive additional rewards. UnionPay precisely connected the entire chain of "consumption invoicing - data aggregation - lottery redemption - effect analysis," deeply integrating daily consumption scenarios with public benefit incentive mechanisms. This both lowered participation barriers and helped governments achieve efficient control over the entire activity process. To date, UnionPay's incentive invoice service has covered nearly 100 cities nationwide, attracting nearly 300 million consumer participations.
Simultaneously, adhering to diversified openness, UnionPay supported multi-channel cooperation, enabling activities on platforms like JD.com and Alipay in multiple cities. Leveraging its role as a bank card organization, UnionPay helped form a multi-layered consumption promotion pattern of "government fund guidance + bank resource support + merchant discount follow-up." It coordinated resources with 11 banks across 13 cities, encouraging banks and industry merchants to contribute funds to enhance activity effectiveness and guide new consumption invoicing for lottery participation.
Regarding consumer goods trade-in programs, since the beginning of the year, China UnionPay has continued to leverage its platform advantages, developing trade-in public service platforms for 35 provinces and cities, aggregating government subsidies, bank marketing resources, and brand promotions. Ministry of Commerce data shows that as of May 4, 2026, consumer goods trade-in programs had benefited 86.204 million person-times, driving sales of 629.27 billion yuan.
Furthermore, driven by both continuously optimized visa-free policies and payment facilitation measures, inbound tourism flourished during May Day, with more foreign tourists experiencing China's diverse charm. National Immigration Administration data indicates 1.255 million entries and exits by foreigners, a 12.5% year-on-year increase, with 436,000 visa-free entries by foreigners, up 14.7% year-on-year. The "Nihao China" App launched by China UnionPay supports self-service top-up using UnionPay cards and mainstream international cards like Visa and Mastercard, covering high-frequency scenarios such as transportation, accommodation, and shopping. Offline, it leverages the tens of millions of merchant acceptance networks of UnionPay, WeChat Pay, and Alipay to achieve "one code for all scans." Outbound tax refund services have also accelerated, with UnionPay embedding innovative outbound tax refund services into two core scenarios—"immediate refund upon purchase" and "port refund"—forming a full-process service closed loop. Currently, 42 cities with outbound tax refund policies across 19 regions nationwide have activated UnionPay outbound tax refund services, covering ports, centralized refund points, and major commercial districts. Cumulative refund amounts and sales of refundable goods have increased significantly year-on-year, building a comprehensive, multi-dimensional tax refund service network.
From city league consumption voucher distribution and ticket stub economy, to dining table incentive invoices and household trade-ins, to foreigners also joining the discount-seeking, the powerful payment network has become a super connector linking events, cultural tourism, dining, and daily life. This May Day holiday demonstrates that Chinese consumer confidence lies within these specific, visible, tangible benefits. China UnionPay, with its digital intelligence capabilities, bridges the "last mile" of public benefits; with its platform-oriented thinking, aggregates the strength of various industry players; and with its global layout, serves the broader picture of connectivity. It has played its due role in serving the real economy, boosting consumer confidence, and supporting high-level opening-up.
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