CITIC SECURITIES released a research report stating that during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, policies are strategically prioritizing service consumption to expand domestic demand. The broad travel sector, as a key scenario for the experience economy, is expected to benefit continuously and become a major driver for boosting consumption and stimulating growth. On the supply side, policy guidance plays a positive role in promoting innovation in regular supply, ensuring emotional value premiums, while AI enhances efficiency and optimizes costs. On the demand side, consumption characteristics such as self-indulgence release, immersive interaction, personalized expression, and inbound tourism growth are driving the gradual expansion and spillover of the experience economy's connotations. The report recommends three main investment themes: first, high-quality targets in leisure travel scenarios; second, stable and growth-oriented leaders in the pro-cyclical leisure sector; third, gambling companies and leading freshly-made beverage brands with high demand elasticity amid improving market conditions. Additionally, the Online Travel Agency (OTA) sector warrants attention for potential recovery opportunities following subsequent policy regulations, while the exhibition sector should be monitored for trends in business activity recovery. The main views of CITIC SECURITIES are as follows:
**Experience Economy: A Prominent Opportunity in China's Consumer Market** The experience economy, centered on emotional value and situational experiences, is becoming a key direction for the upgrading of residential consumption structures. Driven collectively by Generation Z, the middle class, and the silver-haired population, alongside continuous policy support, demand for experiential consumption is steadily being released, leading to an increasing share of service consumption. Compared to traditional goods consumption, the experience economy features high added value, strong interactivity, and low substitutability, promoting the integrated development of various formats such as catering, cultural tourism, and performing arts. The bank estimates the overall market size has reached approximately RMB 15 trillion, with further growth potential to converge towards the service consumption share seen in mature economies. In 2025, per capita service consumption expenditure accounted for 46.1% of total consumer spending for Chinese residents, whereas this figure is generally close to or exceeds 60% in mature economies like the US, Japan, and South Korea, indicating clear long-term prospects for broad service consumption represented by the experience economy.
**Hotels: Experience Consumption Drives Demand Upgrade, Structural Optimization Navigates Cycles** As the sub-sector with the most significant scalability potential within service consumption scenarios, the hotel industry has vast prospects against the backdrop of overall service consumption expansion. Its growth logic is gradually shifting from being driven by cyclical business travel to being driven by experiential consumption. According to Hotel之家, China's hotel demand in 2025 shows a significant pattern of "strong leisure, weak business travel," with the RevPAR gap between weekends and weekdays reversing sharply from -9.7% in Q1 2024 to +5.6% in Q2 2025. The recovery cycle for experiential tourism leads business travel recovery by approximately 6-9 months, reflecting the public's willingness to pay for "sense of presence" and "emotional value." Hotel supply growth is expected to slow in 2026, while trends towards tier upgrades and geographical penetration into lower-tier cities align with consumer demands for quality and value. Demand for niche destinations is rising, strengthening the linkage between hotels and experiential consumption. Simultaneously, mid-to-high-end hotels are transforming accommodation into lifestyle experiences through scene creation and service upgrades, leading to increased brand premiums and non-room revenue growth.
**Scenic Spots: Primary Carriers of Tourism Space with Clear Growth Logic** According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) for domestic tourist trips and tourism revenue from 2023 to 2025 were 15.5% and 13.3% respectively. In 2025, domestic tourist trips reached 6.522 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%; domestic tourism spending reached RMB 6.30 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%. As the core载体 of cultural tourism consumption, tourist attractions maintain steady growth amidst normalized travel demand, with the industry transitioning from "resource-driven" to "experience-driven." Leading natural scenic spots maintain visitor growth through their scarcity, while man-made attractions achieve breakout success through content innovation and interactive experiences. Future growth drivers include increased travel frequency due to optimized holiday systems, expansion of secondary consumption from new projects and formats, and the broadening of tourist demographics.
**Performing Arts: Booming Performance Market with Radiating Regional Effects** The performing arts industry benefits from the release of emotional consumption and offline social interaction demand. According to the China Association of Performing Arts, the number of commercial performances (excluding entertainment venue performances) nationwide in 2025 was 640,400, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%; box office revenue reached RMB 61.655 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, approximately three times the 2019 level; the audience size was 194 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. Diverse forms such as large-scale concerts, immersive performances, and cultural tourism shows enrich consumption supply, strengthening the "content is traffic" business model. Performing arts not only possess high growth potential themselves but also drive peripheral consumption through IPs like "performance + tourism" and "performance + city," creating significant synergistic effects. Increased consumer willingness to pay and the application of new technologies further propel industry development.
**Inbound Tourism: Significant Potential, Leading Growth Driven by Policy** As an important incremental source for the experience economy, inbound tourism is gradually recovering amid visa facilitation, optimized payment environments, and improved service supply. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China received over 150 million inbound tourist visits in 2025, a year-on-year increase exceeding 17%; among these, visa-free entries for foreign tourists exceeded 30 million. Compared to domestic tourists, inbound tourists have stronger spending power, longer stays, and more prominent demand for high-quality cultural tourism, performing arts, and cultural experiences. During the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, inbound tourism will be leveraged as a key measure to expand domestic demand, promote consumption, and drive high-quality development of the service sector, boosting consumption in related industries such as culture and tourism, transportation, and retail, thereby serving the new "dual circulation" development paradigm. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China's current inbound tourism revenue accounts for only 0.7% of GDP, significantly lower than the 1%–3% level seen in mainstream inbound tourism destinations. The bank forecasts that with the expansion of visa-free policies, China's inbound tourism market size could reach USD 290 billion by 2030.
**Catering: Driven by Emotional Experience, Resonance of Scene, Product, and Scale Efficiency** According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's catering revenue reached RMB 5,798.2 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%, accounting for 11.6% of total retail sales of consumer goods, up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. Consumer demand for catering is upgrading from merely "eating to fill hunger" to "eating well + experience." Consumers are increasingly valuing the atmosphere and interactive experience during consumption, demanding higher standards for food consistency and quality assurance. Themed venues, distinctive products, and brand identity have become core competitive factors, while chain expansion and enhanced supply chain capabilities drive efficiency optimization. In the short term, same-store sales volatility coexists with intensified competition, but in the medium to long term, driven by experience economy demand, leading players with strong supply chain capabilities, product innovation, and organizational skills are still expected to gain market share.
**Exhibitions: Recovery of Offline Business Activities with Significant Multiplier Effect** The exhibition industry is a crucial platform connecting industry and consumption. According to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China held 4,095 economic and trade exhibitions in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%; the total exhibition area reached 159 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%. Against the backdrop of recovering economic activity and industrial upgrading, large-scale exhibitions and conference events not only directly drive business travel demand but also enhance city influence through resource aggregation and brand showcasing. As the integration trends of "exhibition + tourism" and "exhibition + consumption" strengthen, the function of exhibitions is extending from a单纯的 transaction platform to a comprehensive experiential scenario. Typically, every RMB 1 of exhibition revenue can drive approximately RMB 6–9 in related industry revenue, involving sectors such as hotels, catering, transportation, advertising, and cultural entertainment. Based on schedules published on the official websites of five core exhibition centers in first-tier cities, the number of announced exhibitions for January–June 2026 has increased by approximately 19% compared to the same period in 2025.
**Risk Factors:** Consumer demand falling short of expectations; delays or shortcomings in the implementation of service industry stimulus policies; intensification of industry competition; food safety issues; slower-than-expected store expansion; fluctuations in domestic and international travel policies; significant exchange rate fluctuations.
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