Chinese people have shown strong spending power for the first Spring Festival since the COVID-19 policy downgraded from a Class A to a Class B, Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

About 34.74 million trips were made on Jan 7, the first day of this year's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, up 11.1 percent month-on-month and 38.9 percent year-on-year.

The number of the country's travelers is expected to rise 99.5 percent during this year's Spring Festival travel rush compared to the same period last year, the report said citing data from the Ministry of Transport.

By Jan 5, bookings of tourism products during the Spring Festival increased 45 percent year-on-year, and per capita travel spending increased 53 percent, according to an online travel agency (OTA) platform.

Shanghai, Beijing and Sanya have become the top three destinations for domestic travel and the interest for overseas travel to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia has increased.

With a variety of film categories and fierce competition, the box office, including service fees, is expected to reach 6.5 billion yuan ($960 million), second only to the 2021 Spring Festival and up 7.8 percent year-on-year, the report said.

The sales of nuts, snacks, fruits and pre-prepared dishes have also witnessed a huge increase while people are preparing for the Spring Festival.