The 2024 Chunyun or Spring Travel Festival – the world’s largest annual human migration – officially begins on Friday and is expected to set a new record of 9 billion passenger trips during the 40-day travel peak. From crowded transportation hubs to the hustle and bustle seen in markets across the country, the expected booming Chinese New Year holidays are poised to continue the country’s steady recovery while ushering in a bustling 2024.
At Beijing Capital International Airport on Thursday, throngs of tourists were seen in the departure hall, children and parents held hands while waiting for checked baggage at the counter, and Year of the Dragon stickers were also pasted on glass doors, adding to the upcoming atmosphere of the Chinese lunar new year.
The airport will have 7.2 million passenger trips during Chunyun, an increase of more than 60 percent from the same period in 2023, the airport said on Thursday, adding that overseas passenger traffic will reach 1.41 million passenger trips after the implementation of visa reciprocity policies between China and many countries.
The scene observed by the Global Times at the airport is just a snapshot illustrating the busy flow of staff across the country at one of China’s busiest times of the year. Observers expected the travel rush to boost consumption for the upcoming holidays, which would infuse fresh vitality and boost the country’s economic progress in 2024.
Booming consumption
A retired female employee surnamed Ying from Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China recently completed a self-driving trip to Hainan Province in South China with her family. Yin told the Global Times on Thursday that she has already experienced a tourism boom with crowds of visitors and full restaurants even before the official start of the holiday, adding that well-built roads and convenient infrastructure facilities have improved the travel experience.
Buoyed by record labor inflows and China’s robust economic recovery, both domestic and international tourism will become major drivers of consumption.
China and Singapore agreed on Thursday to a mutual visa waiver that will officially come into effect on February 9, 2024 – the eve of Chinese New Year – as holders of ordinary passports from both countries will be able to enter each other’s countries no visa requirements for activities including tourism for 30 days.
Searches for hotels in Singapore on Chinese online travel platform Qunar.com quadrupled after the two countries announced the decision, the company told the Global Times on Thursday. Meanwhile, Tongcheng Travel told the Global Times that Singapore-related searches increased by more than 340 percent on the platform within an hour of the visa-free policy being announced.
Domestic tourism is also booming, represented by sparkling ice-and-snow trips in popular cities such as Harbin in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province. Bookings for winter tourism-related products on Trip.com for the holidays increased more than 10-fold year over year, the company told the Global Times in a recent statement.
The record high chunyun reflects China’s rapid development in transportation construction amid an advancing economic recovery, Jiang Yiyi, vice head of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sports University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Jiang stressed that activities related to the cultural sector, such as visiting museums, will also play an important role in promoting consumption.
In addition, consumption related to the Chinese New Year holidays also increased. Restaurants were busy with reservations for traditional Spring Festival gathering dinners, while e-commerce platforms saw a surge in sales as consumers stocked up on holiday necessities, according to media reports.
Among the 9 billion passenger trips, about 1.8 billion will be made by rail, road, air and water transport, while the remaining 7.2 billion trips are expected to be self-driving trips, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of the transport.
China’s railway system has already seen a peak in ticket sales ahead of the Spring Festival, with 61.08 million Chunyun tickets sold since Jan. 12, up 159 percent year-on-year, China State said in a statement sent to the Global Times Railway Group Co Wednesday.
Amid the expected record Chunyun, local carriers have stepped up their efforts to secure transport capacity.
Air China said on Tuesday it plans to operate 67,691 flights during the 40-day travel peak with an average of 1,693 flights per day, an increase of 32 percent from 2019 and 40.6 percent from 2023. Meanwhile, four domestic C919 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines will also serve the busy journey. The four aircraft will fly routes between Beijing and Shanghai and Shanghai and Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province, marking the first time the aircraft have been used for Spring Festival travel.
