Will Lunar New Year Mark Start of China’s Luxury Comeback?

30 Jan 2026

The luxury market is saddling up for the Year of the Fire Horse, hoping that diamond-encrusted horse merch will have Chinese shoppers splurging this Lunar New Year. Luxury sales have been dragged down for years by slow spending in China, where the sector’s biggest spenders have yet to shop like they did before the pandemic.

The Lunar New Year, an extended holiday that people celebrate by traveling and shopping, reflects the Chinese economy’s health. Last year, tourism revenue and travel rose from the year before, but daily spending was still below prepandemic levels. To help reverse the trend and boost spending, China extended the official holiday this year by one day, to nine days total, starting on February 15.