CNY Vibes Still Strong as S’poreans Spent S$2.3 Billion During CNY in 2019

It’s already 14 January and you know what that means!

Chinese New Year (CNY) is approaching us and it’s approaching us fast.

I’m sure many of us are looking forward to the angbaos that we’ll receive, the nice outfits that we will get to wear when we visit the houses of our relatives and friends, and all the delicious snacks that we’ll eat to our hearts’ content because we’re just eating it once every year anyway.

In order to be good hosts and to liven up the house, most of us would probably also invest in some CNY decorations. I’m sure some of us may reuse those generic decorations that just say “Happy Chinese New Year!”, but some of us will definitely still buy some decorations depicting that year’s zodiac to keep things fresh.

Not to mention the number of angbaos and amount of money you need to prepare just in case you’re visiting a lot.

So you might be wondering, how much do Singaporeans spend each year on CNY?

Or maybe you weren’t even wondering about that, but now that I’ve put that question into your minds, hopefully you’re at least slightly more curious than before.

Well, Google’s search data actually showed that CNY is more frequently searched than Christmas, in fact, it’s the most searched festival in Singapore. Apparently, more than two-thirds of the country started looking for CNY-related information close to two months ago.

And if you think that’s shocking, wait till you hear the next.

According to Google, the search volume of CNY-related information in Singapore was among the highest in the whole of Asia. This means that our search volume surpassed that of Malaysia, Taiwan, and even Hong Kong, which have significant Chinese populations.

Apparently, the number of searches also increased by a third from 2018 to 2019. More people were searching for reunion dinner restaurants, CNY decorations, and fashion and makeup. Google assumes that people were looking for good deals since these kinds of festivals would draw a lot of sales and promotions.

So the golden question, how much do Singaporeans spend during CNY?

Well, Singaporeans spent about $2.3 billion during CNY in 2019, which is 2.5 times more than what was spent during the Singles’ Day sale on 11 November.

For some reason, Google said that Singaporeans had a higher chance of experimenting with newer products and brands during CNY than other times of the year.

They shared, “The growing interest in Chinese New Year and the meticulous planning involved indicate that Singaporeans spare no expense to get into the festive mood.”

They also noted that there were more locals searching for Chinese-language content to watch on YouTube during CNY probably to get into a festive mood.

Well, whatever it is, I’m glad that Singaporeans are still so enthusiastic about celebrating CNY.