<p>The nine-day Spring Festival holiday in the Year of the Horse has come to an end, but the movie market, which was highly anticipated, did not achieve the expected &#34;good start.&#34; In stark contrast to the relatively quiet cinemas, the tourism market continues to show a &#34;high prosperity&#34; state. The enthusiasm of Chinese people for travel remains high, with footprints not only occupying famous mountains and rivers in the country but also extending to the Twelve Apostles in Australia. However, the total box office for movies unexpectedly cooled down, reaching a new low in nearly six years. Analysis indicates that residents' willingness to consume has not weakened overall, but the trend of consumption stratification and budget centralization is strengthening. The movie market can no longer rely solely on the Spring Festival period for support; content and themes are the keys to recovery.</p>
<h2>Movie Box Office Significantly Declines Year-on-Year</h2>
<p>This year's Spring Festival period lasted a total of nine days, longer than in previous years. The Spring Festival movies, which were highly anticipated, ultimately ended with mediocre results. According to data from Maoyan Research Institute, the box office for the 2026 Spring Festival movies was 5.752 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), with 120 million viewers, which not only represents a significant decline compared to the same period last year but also saw only the first day’s box office surpass 1 billion yuan. Due to the lack of blockbuster films with strong word-of-mouth, the box office on the second day of the new year dropped by more than 30% compared to the previous day.</p>
<p>Related article: Mainland's first day box office for the New Year hits nearly a 10-year low, &#34;Fast and Furious 3&#34; ranks first, average ticket price down from last year.</p>
<h2>Australian Landmark Packed with Chinese Tourists</h2>
<p>In stark contrast to the coldness of cinemas, the enthusiasm of mainland residents for travel during the long holiday remains high, with the famous Australian landmark &#34;Twelve Apostles&#34; almost completely occupied by Chinese tourists during the Spring Festival. Videos taken by on-site tourists show that the viewing platform of the scenic area was crowded with people, and even tour groups dispatched staff dressed as &#34;God of Wealth&#34; to distribute lucky money in front of the sea-eroded pillars in the South Pacific, creating a bustling scene. Tourists on social media exclaimed, &#34;It feels like being teleported back home.&#34;</p>
<h2>Macau's Gambling Revenue Increases by 4.5%, Exceeding Expectations</h2>
<p>In Macau, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau announced that the gross gaming revenue for February reached 20.627 billion patacas, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, better than expected, recovering to 81% of the pre-epidemic level, mainly driven by the Spring Festival travel peak. The Macau Tourism Board also announced that during the Spring Festival holiday, the total number of inbound tourists reached 1.554 million, averaging 173,000 per day, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, marking a new high for the Lunar New Year holiday in official statistics.</p>
<p>Economist Song Qinghui believes that the high prosperity of Spring Festival tourism indicates that residents' willingness to consume has not weakened overall. The nine-day extended holiday has transformed travel from an &#34;optional item&#34; to a &#34;priority item,&#34; resulting from multiple factors such as time dividends and experiential preferences, rather than a systematic collapse of content consumption demand. If subsequent holidays are shortened or film supply improves, the movie market may still have recovery potential.</p>
<h2>Hainan Island Overloaded with Capacity, Airfare Approaching 10,000 Yuan</h2>
<p>The booming tourism industry is directly reflected in the tense capacity situation. Due to the intensified trend of &#34;winter interchange between north and south,&#34; with the peak return travel period approaching after the holiday, the outbound capacity from Hainan Island is severely overloaded. Journalists found through multiple booking platforms that from February 22 to 23, all economy class direct flights from Sanya to major first-tier cities were sold out, with only business class tickets remaining, priced close to 10,000 yuan. Some popular time slots for business class tickets even reached over 18,000 yuan, comparable to prices for international intercontinental routes. Many tourists posted on social media saying, &#34;I can't return from Sanya.&#34;</p>
<h2>The Rise of Micro-Short Dramas and the Serious Loss of Young Movie Audiences</h2>
<p>On the other hand, this year's Spring Festival release period lacks the support of super blockbuster hits like last year's &#34;Ne Zha,&#34; although &#34;Fast and Furious 3&#34; leads with a box office of about 2.9 billion yuan, the overall enthusiasm is below expectations. With emerging entertainment forms like micro-short dramas capturing the market, there is a serious loss of young audiences.</p>
<p>Song Qinghui stated that the rise of micro-short dramas and short films is reshaping users' time allocation and content patience, which is more evident during the Spring Festival period. He pointed out that consumers are more inclined to spend their time on &#34;high-value experiences&#34; like travel during the Spring Festival, while fragmentary time is given to short films. This puts pressure on mid-length films, but the social ritual and immersive experience of movies remain irreplaceable. The key lies in content quality, thematic innovation, and whether it can recreate the reason to &#34;must go to the cinema.&#34;</p>
<p>Related articles:</p>
<p>Revealing the Secret History of the 90 Billion Yuan &#34;Dog Blood Drama&#34; Industry: Shooting 80 Episodes in 5 Days, Drama Students Have No Roles and &#34;Even Accept Nudity&#34;</p>
<p>The Domestic Short Drama Industry's Trials Abroad: Dog Blood Plots with Foreign Actors, &#34;Scumbag Digging for Uterus&#34; Scenes Shock Actors</p>

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<p>The performance of the travel market during the Spring Festival holiday was strong, despite the box office hitting a six-year low. The enthusiasm for travel among Chinese citizens is high, especially at tourist attractions in Australia like the Twelve Apostles, which attracted a large number of Chinese tourists. Macau's gaming revenue grew by 4.5%, and the number of tourists reached a new high, indicating that residents' willingness to spend has not diminished, but the film market needs to rely on richer content and themes to recover</p>

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Mainland China's Spring Festival travel boom, movie "God of Wealth" also lands in Australia. Analysis: Long holidays prioritize travel