Tourists visit Hetou Old Street scenic area in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province. (Photo/Sun Lijun)
As the nine-day Spring Festival holiday, the longest on record, approaches, travel enthusiasm is reaching new highs in China. According to Chinese travel service and social networking platform Mafengwo, over the past two weeks, searches related to "Spring Festival travel destinations" have surged by 253 percent from the previous period.
The festive atmosphere has become one of the key drivers of domestic travel demand during the Spring Festival holiday, said Sun Yunlei, director of Mafengwo's destination research institute.
In the past two weeks, search interest in places such as Fuzhou in southeast China's Fujian Province and the Chaoshan area in south China's Guangdong Province has risen by more than 100 percent, reflecting travelers' growing desire for both cultural experiences and a strong holiday vibe.
According to a report on 2026 Spring Festival consumption trends jointly released by the China Association of Travel Services and online travel agency Tuniu, travelers born in the 1980s and 1990s account for 64 percent of total bookings. Travelers born after 2000 make up 14 percent. Family trips continue to dominate, underscoring the Spring Festival's role as a time for reunion.
Foreign tourists make fish-shaped lanterns at a fair in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo/Chen Yongjian)
According to the report, Spring Festival travel this year is shaped by three major themes: experiencing folk customs, ice and snow tourism, and trips to warmer destinations.
"Ice and snow tourism continues to gain momentum during the Spring Festival holiday," said Qi Chunguang, vice president of Tuniu.
Destinations in northeast China, such as Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Mudanjiang, Yanbian, and Baishan, as well as northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, are all expected to see peak visitor numbers.
For travelers seeking to escape the cold, top destinations include south China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as southwest China's Yunnan Province.
Data from online travel agency LY.com shows that as of Jan. 27, bookings for flights, hotels, B&Bs, and attraction tickets in Hainan during the Spring Festival period had all exceeded the levels recorded during the same period last year, with hotel bookings up 191 percent year on year.
Going further and exploring more widely has become a feature of outbound travel this Spring Festival holiday. On travel services platform Qunar, Chinese travelers have booked hotels in nearly 3,000 cities worldwide.
Foreign tourists explore Qilou Old Street in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo/Zhang Mao)
"Destinations in southeast Asia such as Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bali remain top choices for Chinese travelers spending the Spring Festival holiday abroad, thanks to moderate flight distances, a festive atmosphere, and convenient visa policies," said Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute.
The extended holiday has also fueled strong growth in long-haul travel.
"Bookings for in-depth European tours have risen sharply, with traveler numbers up 90 percent year on year," said Li Mengran, media and public relations manager at Zhongxin Tourism Group. France, Switzerland, Italy, the U.K., Spain and Portugal are among the most popular destinations.
Tourists watch a lion dance performance in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Photo/Zhang Xiaoliang)
At the same time, visiting China during the Spring Festival holiday is becoming a growing trend among overseas travelers. Data from travel booking platform Fliggy shows that over the past two weeks, flight bookings by foreign visitors for the Spring Festival period have increased more than fourfold year on year.
Data from Qunar shows that the main source countries include South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, the U.S. and Malaysia.