On January 3rd, the "2026 New Year Holiday Travel Consumption Report" released by Tongcheng Travel revealed that the three-day consecutive holiday, combined with the "Take 3 Days Off for an 8-Day Break" trend, significantly boosted travel demand during the New Year period. On the Tongcheng Travel platform, bookings for major products such as air tickets, hotels, and homestays around the holiday showed a simultaneous increase in both volume and price. This strong start, characterized by robust supply and demand during the first short holiday of the year, sets a positive tone for the prosperous growth of the cultural and tourism consumption market in 2026.
The report indicates that short-distance travel within core city clusters and long-haul "north-south exchange" trips operated in parallel during the holiday. Short micro-getaways within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta clusters were particularly popular. Under the two classic tourism themes of ice-snow travel and warm-winter escapes, provinces and regions including the three northeastern provinces, Hainan, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Fujian, and Guangxi dominated the list of popular long-haul destinations. The pursuit of a ceremonial New Year's Eve experience led to a more pronounced trend of "quality upgrades" in holiday travel consumption. On the Tongcheng Travel platform, bookings for high-quality hotels, boutique homestays, and customized small-group tours saw a significant increase in popularity.
The "Take 3 Days Off for an 8-Day Break" model also fueled outbound travel to Southeast Asia and Europe, further raising the overall average spending per customer during the holiday. This New Year, user travel styles became even more diverse and exciting. The report mentioned that the emergence of super hotspots, such as the customs closure across the entire Hainan island, the viral popularity of the "Guangde Three-Piece Set," and the box office success of "Zootopia 2," drove a surge in popularity for duty-free shopping tours, culinary tours, and film-induced tourism during the holiday.
While large crowds flocked to famous theme parks like Shanghai Disney Resort and Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom to watch New Year's Eve fireworks, other travelers sought alternative, less crowded scenic spots with unique celebrations. The report shows that thanks to diverse New Year's Eve activities like drone shows, light displays, and traditional iron-smelting performances, destinations such as Wuyuan Wunvzhou Resort, Wuxi's Lingshan Scenic Area, Nanjing's Niushou Mountain Cultural Tourism Zone, and "Only Henan" Drama Fantasy City became the top 10 scenic spots with the fastest-rising popularity on New Year's Eve.
Natural landscapes, a perennial travel theme, also reliably attracted visitors for the holiday. The report states that with the rise of祈福游 (prayer and blessing tours), mountain scenic areas that combine hiking with listening to bell-ringing ceremonies for blessings maintained high popularity during the New Year holiday, including Wutai Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Emei Mountain, and Putuo Mountain. Among visitors to these mountains, those booking accommodation within the scenic areas increased by over 23% compared to the previous period, facilitating participation in New Year's Eve blessings and early morning hikes to greet the first sunrise of the year.
Groups of young, fun-loving travelers headed to the seaside for celebrations, hosting bonfire parties on the beach, watching open-air movies, and waiting for the New Year's sunrise. The report indicates that islands such as Weizhou Island, Dongji Island, Nan'ao Island, Pingtan Island, and Wuzhizhou Island were popular New Year's Eve destinations. Compared to standardized chain hotels, travelers to these islands preferred to stay in stylish homestays with sea views. On Dongji Island, bookings for boutique homestays tagged with "balcony sea view" or "media room" saw a popularity increase of over 38%; on Weizhou Island, homestay suites suitable for multiple guests were particularly sought-after, with orders for stays of 2-3 days accounting for more than half of the total.
The New Year period proved to be a perfect match for intangible cultural heritage tours, aligning well with the festive atmosphere. The report shows that during the holiday, search and booking popularity for "intangible cultural heritage" themed tourism increased by 85% compared to the previous period. Cities such as Luoyang, Xi'an, Quanzhou, Kaifeng, Jingdezhen, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Datong, Dunhuang, and Zhanjiang ranked among the top 10 destinations for intangible cultural heritage tours.
The trend of "traveling to a city for a concert" continued during the New Year period, with well-known singers performing in cities like Guangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Nanning, and Tianjin, attracting large numbers of out-of-town fans. Hotel bookings around concert venues showed a noticeable increase in popularity, with some popular room types selling out approximately two weeks in advance. Over 80% of concertgoers spent the New Year holiday in the host city. The report indicates that landmark attractions such as Chongqing's Hongya Cave, Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower, Tianjin's Century Clock, and Zhengzhou's Erqi Square were exceptionally crowded, significantly boosting nearby hotel bookings.
As a benchmark for winter travel, ice-snow tourism overwhelmingly dominated the "center stage" during the New Year holiday. The report shows that among the top 20 domestic flight routes during the period, routes related to ice-snow tourism accounted for about 40%, including Shanghai to Harbin, Guangzhou to Harbin, Zhengzhou to Urumqi, Hangzhou to Shenyang, and Shanghai to Changchun. Return flights on January 3rd, such as Harbin to Shanghai and Changchun to Shanghai, were in high demand, with economy class tickets on some flights selling out early and others reaching full price.
Harbin Ice and Snow World remained a top-tier attraction during the holiday, with one-day tour product bookings on the Tongcheng Travel platform increasing by over 45%. Meanwhile, other scenic areas like Xiling Snow Mountain, Mudanjiang's China Snow Town, Sayram Lake, Yulong Snow Mountain, and Jilin's Wusong Island saw prominent increases in popularity, becoming the top 10 snow-viewing spots with the fastest-rising热度 (heat/index) during the holiday.
Beyond ice-snow tourism, ice-snow sports also experienced a boom during this New Year period. Recently, Wanda Hotels & Resorts opened its third ski project—the Changchun Wanda Ski Resort—featuring an 85m vertical drop (the largest in Asia), a year-round constant temperature environment, and top-tier professional facilities. According to Wanda Hotels & Resorts data, the Changchun Wanda Ski Resort received over 4,000 visitors during the holiday. Furthermore, following its takeover of operations, the hotel cluster at the Wanfeng Tonghua Ski Resort accommodated 6,800 visitors during the 2026 New Year holiday, achieving an 80% occupancy rate. This represents strong growth, doubling the visitor count compared to the same period last year and increasing the occupancy rate by a significant 50 percentage points.
Hainan has always been a top choice for winter warm-weather escapes. With the island-wide customs closure fueling duty-free shopping tours, Hainan's tourism热度 was completely ignited during the New Year holiday. The report shows that flight bookings to and from Hainan's three main airports during the holiday increased by 76% compared to the previous month, with Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing remaining the top three source markets. From the start of the customs closure policy through the New Year holiday, Hainan's hotel booking growth rate consistently led the nation. Many users traveled specifically for duty-free "shopping sprees," with the proportion of users adopting a "shop first, travel later" approach increasing by nearly 50%.
Another group of users embarked on "culinary journeys." With the viral popularity of the "Guangde Three-Piece Set"—comprising Guangde stew pot, Cacaoka milk tea, and Zhanji walnut cakes—Guangde in Anhui province emerged as a "dark horse" destination during the holiday. The report shows that short-haul train tickets between Guangde and cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou were in high demand, and hotels near Yingchun Street and close to Cacaoka milk tea shops saw a notable surge in booking popularity.
Driven strongly by the "Take 3 Days Off for an 8-Day Break" model, the popularity of outbound travel during the 2026 New Year holiday significantly surpassed previous years. The report indicates that four major themes characterized outbound travel: "Experiencing Summer on an Island," "Last-Minute Trips to Visa-Free Countries," "Embracing Warmth in the Southern Hemisphere," and "Chasing the Northern Lights in Scandinavia." Bookings for related products like air tickets, hotels, group tours, and customized tours increased rapidly.
Looking at popular outbound routes during the holiday, the top 10 short-haul international routes included Shanghai-Singapore, Beijing-Seoul, Chengdu-Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou-Chiang Mai, and Nanjing-Bali. The top 10 long-haul international routes included Beijing-Moscow, Shanghai-Sydney, Hangzhou-Dubai, Shanghai-Helsinki, Chengdu-Cairo, Guangzhou-Auckland, and Beijing-Istanbul.
In terms of traveler demographics, young adults aged 25-45 and families with children were the main customer groups for outbound travel during the holiday. They showed a greater willingness to pay a premium for outbound travel products offering "meticulous itineraries" and "deep immersion in foreign cultures." Reflecting the broader trend of travel consumption upgrades, outbound travel orders from cities such as Xi'an, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Hefei, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, and Wuhan grew at a faster rate during this year's New Year holiday.
The report shows that popular vacation packages included: a 6-day, 5-night semi-independent tour of Singapore + Malacca + Kuala Lumpur + Gardens by the Bay + Universal Studios; an 8-day, 6-night group tour of Australia + Sydney + Melbourne; and an 8-day, 7-night group tour of Turkey. Turkey has consistently been a popular outbound destination for Chinese tourists in recent years. The report indicates that travel from China to Turkey was already booming during the New Year holiday. Turkey's announcement of visa-free travel for Chinese citizens is expected to further simplify travel procedures and lower the barrier for travel. This policy benefit, combined with the "longest Spring Festival holiday in history" in 2026, is anticipated to significantly boost Chinese tourists' enthusiasm for traveling to Turkey.
The report also mentioned that as outbound travel destinations become more diverse and personalized, lesser-known countries such as Serbia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and Bosnia and Herzegovina gradually entered travelers' consideration during the holiday, with related vacation product bookings seeing an increase in popularity.
Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.
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