China’s Year of the Horse Spring Festival nine-day holiday has come to an end, and the national culture and tourism consumption report card is out. There were 596 million domestic trips taken nationwide, with total domestic tourism spending reaching 803.483 billion RMB (454.675 billion Ringgit). Both the number of holiday travelers and spending hit historical highs. Many scenic spots and restaurants across the country were packed with people, and the dual trends of “reverse migration for the New Year” and “returning home tourism” moved toward each other. Self-driving tours saw significant growth, with hotel occupancy doubling in a number of county towns. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, predicts that this year the tourism economy will see a “high start and steady progression” as a new pattern.
● Off-peak Travel Becomes a New Way to Celebrate the New Year
According to Sing Tao Daily, this year’s Spring Festival holiday lasted from February 15th to 23rd, totaling nine days, one more than last year. According to the Cultural and Tourism Ministry’s data center, during the nine-day holiday, there were 596 million domestic trips nationwide, an increase of 95 million trips compared to last year's eight-day festival; total domestic spending reached 803.483 billion RMB, up 126.481 billion RMB (71.573 billion Ringgit) from last year. Both holiday travel volume and expenditure hit historical highs, and the national culture and tourism market remained stable and orderly.
The extended holiday gave people more time for family reunions. “Visiting relatives + tourism,” segmental travel, and off-peak travel became new ways to celebrate the New Year. Data from Qunar Travel indicates that young people returning home “overbooked” county-level hotels, and hotel occupancy in non-scenic county towns such as Linquan County in Fuyang, Anhui; Hanshou County in Changde, Hunan; and Lingshan County in Qinzhou, Guangxi saw double growth.
● Hong Kong Merchant Chain Hotels See Booming Business
Mr. Wu, a Hong Kong businessman investing in a chain hotel in Shuitou Town, Nan’an City, Fujian Province, reported booming business during the Spring Festival. He told the Sing Tao Daily that tourists from Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places drove to Xiamen and Quanzhou, but it was hard to book or the prices were sky-high for city hotels; Shuitou Town is only about 40 minutes’ drive from Xiamen and Quanzhou, making it an attractive alternative.
“Reverse migration for the New Year” has also shifted from being a niche choice to a trend. As a plane ticket from Taiyuan to Shanghai was over 1,000 RMB cheaper per person one-way than from Shanghai to Taiyuan, Liu Xin, a Shanxi native working in Shanghai, chose to invite her parents to Shanghai for the New Year. She used the “plane ticket budget” she saved to take her parents to Shanghai Disneyland, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Wukang Road, and other places. “My parents had a great time and came to understand and support my decision to work in Shanghai even more!” According to Qunar’s data, the number of hotel stays by those over 60 during this Spring Festival increased by 56% year-on-year.