(Yicai Global) May 13 -- Foot traffic in Beijing’s offline stores and shopping malls has recovered to about 50 percent of the level it was at before the coronavirus outbreak, Beijing Daily reported today, citing figures from a third party.

Joy City in the capital’s Xicheng district has experienced the fastest growth in customer flow so far in May compared with a month earlier, with almost twice as many people visiting the mall, the report added. Another Joy City in Chaoyang district and Shine Hills in Shunyi district also saw a 50 percent rise in footfall and a 60 percent gain in sales, according to the data.

The three malls combined to make sales of more than CNY1.5 trillion (USD212 billion) during the Labor Day holiday, just 10 percent less than the same period a year earlier, when the holiday was four days rather than five. Foot traffic over the holiday was at about 60 percent of the total from the 2019 holiday.

Several shopping malls in Beijing have begun running promotions in a bid to ramp up footfall and plan to tighten measures aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19, the report added.

Editor: James Boynton