This May Day holiday has seen a booming trend of wholesale shopping tourism in Guangzhou. Instead of visiting traditional tourist attractions, many travelers headed to wholesale markets such as the Zhonggang Leatherware Mall in Sanyuanli and the flower and bird market in Liwan, making shopping the highlight of their trips.

With the holiday coinciding with the third phase of the 139th Canton Fair, Guangzhou is projected to record around 32 million passenger arrivals and departures, up 5.9% year on year. The city's 508 professional wholesale markets have quickly become popular destinations for visitors.

Major wholesale markets are bustling with visitors. Lingnan Flower Market in Liwan offers a wide variety of flowers and plants, attracting large numbers of nearby visitors. Zhonggang Leatherware Mall in Sanyuanli hosts more than 600 leather brands, transforming itself from a traditional wholesale market into a viral tourist destination.

Driven by the Canton Fair and the convenient visa-free policies for inbound visitors, the number of overseas buyers has increased significantly. A manager at the Liuhua Clothing Wholesale Market expects the number of overseas buyers to rise by roughly 20% during the holiday. Meanwhile, Baiyun Beauty Bay Plaza has also welcomed a large influx of cosmetics buyers from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

This consumption trend originated in Yiwu City, Zhejiang, where local wholesale markets introduced a retail model allowing single-item purchases at wholesale prices, which has proven especially popular among young consumers. The model has since spread across Guangzhou's major markets, with affordable, cost-effective products further boosting consumption.

Currently, Guangzhou is home to 508 specialized markets, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 1.5 trillion yuan. These markets directly support 1.81 million jobs and have fostered the development of five market clusters each worth over 100 billion yuan and 12 clusters each exceeding 10 billion yuan, making the city a key global hub for commodity circulation.

“进货式旅游”在广东出圈：年轻人把批发市场逛成景区

今年“五一”假期，广州掀起“进货式旅游”热潮，不少游客避开传统景区，前往广州三元里的皮具城、荔湾的花鸟市场，开启一场“进货式”购物之旅。

本届假期叠加第139届广交会第三期展会，广州预计迎来约3200万人次抵离客流，同比增长5.9%。全市508家专业市场，一跃成为游客热门打卡地。

各大专业市场人气爆棚：荔湾岭南花卉市场品类齐全，吸引大量周边游客选购；三元里中港皮具城汇聚六百余个皮具品牌，从传统批发场地转变为网红打卡地。

广交会叠加入境免签利好，外商客流显著增长。流花服装批发市场负责人表示，假期外籍采购商客流预计增加约20%；白云美湾广场也迎来大批中东、东南亚美妆采购商。

该消费潮流源自浙江义乌，当地批发市场推行一件也批发的零售模式，深受年轻人喜爱。目前这一模式已普及至广州各大专业市场，平价好物、高性价比商品进一步拉动消费。

目前广州拥有508家专业市场，年交易额突破1.5万亿元，直接带动就业181万人，培育形成5个千亿级、12个百亿级市场集群，已然成为全球商品流通的核心枢纽。

文、图｜记者 孙绮曼
译 | 郑书悦
审 | 曾敏