Hotels buzz with visitors during national holiday

Hotels nationwide were bustling during the 2024 Spring Festival holiday, which witnessed 474 million domestic trips, a year-on-year rise of 34.3 percent.

The Lunar New Year holiday started on Feb 10 and ended on Feb 17. According to the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism, by late January, the average booking rate of Lunar New Year's Eve dinners increased 40 percent among the city's hotels when compared with that of 2023. Twenty-one upscale hotels saw the booking rate of such dinners surpass 80 percent.

Diner bookings at Kouzi International Hotel in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, outnumbered what the hotel expected, China Tourism News reported. Many were those returning to their hometown and visiting relatives.

Some other hotels received sales beyond their expectations and the "meals plus accommodation" package was popular.

There are several authentic Min cuisine dishes at the Juchunyuan Hotel in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province in East China, which is a reason why the hotel's New Year's Eve dinner proved so popular.

Its fine and innovative dishes attracted not only local customers. During the Spring Festival holiday, there was a sharp increase in the proportion of road trips from surrounding provinces. Many out-of-town visitors not only stayed at the hotel but took the opportunity to experience local cuisine.

During the Spring Festival holiday, hotel room reservations also entered a peak period. Several hotel-related groups, such as Shanghai-headquartered Jin Jiang International and Huazhu Hotels, experienced a surge in booking volumes.

Statistics of Huazhu showed that by Jan 29, the reservation rate of its hotels for the 2024 Spring Festival holiday was nearly three times that of 2023.

As consumer choices for travel destinations were no longer limited to traditional popular cities, many hotels of Huazhu in thirdand fourth-tier cities experienced a peak in reservations. The hotel booking rate in Beihai city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, reached 75 percent; in Wenchang city, Hainan province, the booking rate of hotels exceeded 60 percent.

This year, staying in hotels after returning home for the Chinese New Year has become popular among some young people. "Traveling at home" has become a new trend, combining a traditional Spring Festival family reunion with tourism.

People who had returned brought their relatives and friends to revisit hometowns and explore local scenic spots and delicacies, which led to a sustained increase in tourism in small and medium-sized cities.

Data from online travel agency Trip.com showed that tourism orders significantly increased in regions such as Zibo, Datong, Weihai, Quanzhou, Luoyang, Kashgar, Tangshan and Kaifeng.

Data from the travel platform LY.com indicated that from the first day to the fourth day of Lunar New Year, hotel bookings in major counties across the country increased by more than 120 percent compared to 2023. The counties with a significant increase in booking volumes were mainly from regions such as Huizhou, Fuzhou and Huzhou.

Trip.com data showed that during the Spring Festival holiday, the number of hotel orders in counties had increased by more than 60 percent compared to 2023.

Among the top 200 counties, in terms of total hotel orders, are Fuliang in Jiangxi province, Hunyuan in Shanxi province and Minhou in Fujian.