In recent years, Hong Kong residents have been keen to travel to mainland China during the Easter holidays in hopes of avoiding crowds at tourist attractions. However, this year the holidays overlap: for the first time, several provinces in China—Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and others—have introduced a “spring break” for students, which is combined with the traditional Qingming Festival holiday to create a "Qingming Golden Week." As a result, many popular attractions are expected to be just as crowded, with ticket reservations for some scenic spots up 70% year-on-year, and hotel bookings up 40%. Springtime flower viewing and outings have become the mainstream travel themes, while the cherry blossom craze has led to sold-out hotels across Wuhan, Hubei.
● Hong Kong residents fail to avoid the crowds by traveling off-peak
A relevant person in charge at the international travel platform, HopeGoo, said that this year, with Hong Kong’s Easter holiday coinciding with China’s Qingming and spring break, long-haul travel demand for both sides has surged. Industry insiders warn that demand for flower-viewing family trips by Hong Kong visitors and mainland residents will explode at the same time, leading to much larger crowds at popular scenic spots and border checkpoints compared to previous years, easily causing congestion. It is recommended to plan ahead or travel off-peak if possible.
To adjust students’ study rhythm, encourage children to embrace spring, and boost parent-child travel consumption, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hubei, Guizhou and other provinces have officially announced that local primary and secondary schools will piloting a spring break system for the first time this year, lasting 2 to 3 days. Many Chinese cities have already confirmed that this year’s student spring break will be combined with the Qingming holiday (April 4th–6th), forming a 5- to 6-day holiday. For example, the full province of Anhui and Jiangsu has scheduled spring break from April 1st to 3rd; Foshan in Guangdong has set it for April 2nd to 3rd.
● Netizens complain Wuhan hotels are fully booked
Spring outings and flower-viewing trips have always been the main travel themes for the Qingming long holiday. “Are all the hotels in Wuhan booked out?” A Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) user posted this late at night on March 28th, receiving more than 700 responses in just one day. As a prime spot for cherry blossom viewing, the East Lake Cherry Blossom Garden in Wuhan has recently been in full bloom, with the entire city immersed in a romantic pink and white atmosphere, while visitors keep pouring in. On March 28 alone, the Garden received 77,000 visitors, setting a new single-day record for the year.
The cherry blossom crowds have also spurred strong demand for nearby accommodations, restaurants, and cultural tourism consumption. “Online customer service and phone lines haven’t stopped ringing—many are inquiring if there are still rooms available,” said a hotel staffer in Wuhan. To attract cherry blossom guests, the hotel even launched special “cherry blossom season afternoon tea” packages, with reservations also hot. The East Lake souvenir and pop-up art store said their cherry blossom season's new products, such as the ‘Chu Xiaoying’ series, saw sales up about 20% from the previous period, and one cherry blossom keychain can sell over a thousand pieces a day. Currently, Wuhan ranks among the top ten most popular cities for Qingming holiday tourism in China.