A shopping boom of giant panda products is driving the diversification of panda gifts at shops across Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, and home to world's largest giant panda base.

As crowds of tourists wander around scenic areas in Chengdu during the five-day Labor Day holiday that started on Saturday, a significant part of them are wearing or carrying panda gifts, some for themselves, some for their families or friends.

"Panda is a symbol and mascot of Sichuan. I bought a silk scarf, some pendants and hats, mainly for my wife and child," said a tourist, who just bought 500 or 600 yuan (about 70 U.S. dollars) worth of panda gifts.

"I like the color. And secondly, I think it's quite unique to combine these two [pig and panda features] together. It's a must to take a toy back home from here, as a souvenir," said another tourist.

Xu Xiaoqing, who have operated a gift shop in the scenic area for over a decade, said they just redecorated the store and diversified their products to catch up with the panda gift shopping boom.

Xu's store reopened on Saturday, the first day of the ongoing holiday, and registered a daily revenue of 40,000 yuan (about 5,100 U.S. dollars).
"We are very busy. The biggest sellers are toys, followed by hats as they can protect visitors from the summer sun and are beautiful for photos," Xu said.

At a local wholesale market, stores are selling high quality panda toys at 600 yuan (about 76 U.S. dollars) a piece, which are far more expansive than ordinary ones, but are stilling selling like hot cakes.

"[Panda toys] are very popular. The purchasers have to wait for two or three months for delivery after they placed orders. All these orders are for panda products. We are running out of stock. A batch of products we unload here will be purchased out by just one buyer," said Peng Mingfang, owner of a wholesale shop.

Besides buying toys and gifts in the city, tourists can also stay in panda-themed homestay hotels, taste panda-themed coffee and even mail panda-featured postcards to their friends.

Giant pandas are also helping core business districts and scenic spots across Chengdu attract more tourists.

The famous tourist attraction Kuanzhai Alley, for example, registered a visitor flow of more than 100,000 people, setting a three-year record. The alley's private brands alone saw a sales boom of around 700 percent compared with the same period last year.

"The biggest IP in Chengdu is giant panda. Our panda products, including utensils made of bamboo, which is panda's favorite food, and ice cream and cheese in containers made of bamboo have won wide recognition among customers," said Ma Hui, deputy general manager of Chengdu Culture and Tourism Kuanzhai Alley Cultural Industry Development Company.