The Spring Festival travel market, which saw a fiery start during the Year of the Horse, is now nearing its end. Scenarios like "hard-to-get tickets," "fully-booked accommodations," and "long queues" became the norm during what was dubbed the "longest Spring Festival holiday in history." Social media was flooded with posts about massive crowds flocking to various destinations. Tourist spots, commercial districts, and rural markets were bustling with activity, showcasing the vibrant energy of the holiday travel season.
A recent report on Spring Festival travel consumption highlights that this year's holiday saw significant growth in experiential travel centered around cultural activities. These included tours focused on intangible cultural heritage, traditional customs, visiting festive markets, temple fairs, and lantern exhibitions. Such activities became popular choices for travelers seeking to immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere and local culture.
The extended holiday period encouraged segmented and staggered travel, with family trips and off-peak travel creating two distinct peaks in tourist numbers. The first surge began around February 11, corresponding with the Little New Year in southern China, and peaked on February 15, the first day of the official holiday, as travel for family reunions and vacations converged. Many travelers chose to return home first to celebrate New Year’s Eve with family, preserving traditional customs, and then embarked on trips with companions starting from the second day of the lunar new year (February 18), extending the festive spirit into their journeys. By the second day of the new year, multi-generational and parent-child family trips saw explosive growth, marking the second peak of the holiday travel period.
Domestic self-drive and independent travel led the way, with major cities remaining highly popular while smaller cities gained rapid recognition. Top domestic destinations included Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Sanya, Nanjing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Xiamen, and Harbin. In addition, several smaller cities and counties distinguished themselves with unique local traditions, authentic cuisine, and distinctive cultural offerings, emerging as new trends in Spring Festival travel. For instance, Baoting and Dehong saw traveler numbers increase by more than double compared to the previous year. Other destinations like Chaozhou, Yanbian, Shantou, Nanping, Heze, Ningde, Liangshan, Tangshan, Jinhua, Shangrao, Zhanjiang, and Jingdezhen also reported growth exceeding 100% year-on-year.
In terms of travel modes, self-drive tours and independent travel were the most popular among travelers, accounting for 53% and 29% of trips, respectively. Preferred self-drive destinations included Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Sanya, Nanjing, Chengdu, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Xi'an, and Chongqing. Packages combining hotel stays with tickets to theme parks, such as Shanghai Disney Resort, Zhuhai Chimelong, Guangzhou Chimelong, Beijing Universal Resort, and Harbin Ice-Snow World, were in high demand. For independent travel, popular destinations were Sanya, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, Dali, Xiamen, and Changsha. Flexible packaged products like "flight + hotel" and "train ticket + hotel" were particularly favored.
Air travel and high-speed rail trips were highly sought after during the holiday, with long-haul flights and short-distance rail journeys both experiencing strong demand. Popular domestic flight routes included Beijing–Guangzhou, Beijing–Shanghai, Hangzhou–Beijing, Beijing–Shenzhen, Guangzhou–Beijing, Beijing–Sanya, Shanghai–Beijing, Shanghai–Guangzhou, Chengdu–Beijing, and Guangzhou–Shanghai. Additionally, destinations such as Yangzhou, Dehong, Beihai, Shijiazhuang, Chaozhou, Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Quanzhou, Baishan, and Zhanjiang saw notable increases in flight bookings.
High-speed rail travel was especially busy in hub cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan. Destinations including Yanbian, Datong, Hangzhou, Changzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Shijiazhuang, Jiujiang, Nanchang, and Harbin also saw significant growth in high-speed rail travel. According to the report, Yanbian and Datong saw high-speed rail passenger numbers increase by over 80% compared to the previous Spring Festival, while Hangzhou and Changzhou saw growth exceeding 50%.
In terms of hotel bookings, cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xiamen, Sanya, Xi'an, Chongqing, Nanjing, and Hangzhou ranked highest in popularity. Family-friendly resorts, themed hotels, and unique homestays were top choices for travelers. Additionally, destinations including Yantai, Nanping, Chaozhou, Liangshan, Kaifeng, Datong, Shantou, Tai'an, Ningde, and Weifang experienced particularly strong growth in hotel bookings, with many locations reporting fully-booked accommodations during the holiday.
Outbound travel was also robust, characterized by strong demand for both short-haul independent and group tours, while long-haul travel was dominated by group tours. Popular outbound destinations included visa-free locations like the Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as long-haul in-depth tours to France, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Egypt, Germany, New Zealand, and the UAE. Niche travel trends were also evident, with destinations such as Brunei, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Fiji, the Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia gaining noticeable popularity as travelers sought new and unique experiences.
Although the Spring Festival holiday is coming to a close, the travel momentum is expected to continue through the Lantern Festival. After the Lantern Festival, as people return to work and students go back to school, the travel market will enter a window of about one month for off-peak travel, lasting until the Qingming Festival holiday.
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