China's leisure economy booms during Spring Festival holiday

The eight-day Spring Festival holiday from Jan 28 to Feb 4 saw a booming leisure and entertainment market in China.

The Ministry of Transport estimated over 2.31 billion cross-regional passenger trips were made during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, including 96.12 million by rail, 2.18 billion by road, 9.35 million by water, and 18.29 million by air. On Feb 4 alone, cross-regional passenger trips were expected to hit 329.1 million, marking five consecutive days exceeding 300 million daily travel volume.

Researcher Liu Dongmei at the Research Institute of Highway under the Ministry of Transport revealed that about 4.8 billion trips occurred in the first half of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush (Jan 14-Feb 22), a 7.2 percent year-on-year increase. Three consecutive days from Jan 30 surpassed 300 million daily trips, exceeding 2023 levels. The full travel period is projected to see 9 billion cross-regional trips.

First-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, are becoming ever more popular tourism hubs, drawing massive crowds of visitors seeking winter ice-snow experiences and warm-weather escapes. Zhou Huijie, an analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, noted that the extended Spring Festival holiday provided abundant travel opportunities, with specialized tourism offerings in snowy regions and warmer destinations emerging as key attractions for holidaymakers.

Meanwhile, trips to smaller cities remained popular during the holiday. Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that Xinzhou and Datong in Shanxi province ranked among the top 10 cities in hotel booking growth. Zhang Mingyang, a senior researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, highlighted that popular games significantly boosted tourism in some parts of Shanxi, with cultural intellectual properties playing a vital role in driving travel demand.

Additionally, Qunar Big Data revealed surging hotel bookings in cities like Huangshan and Shantou, while bookings for high-star hotels in county-level areas doubled year-on-year. Cai Muzi, a researcher at Qunar Research Institute, observed that travelers increasingly prefer niche destinations to experience traditional festive atmospheres, with unique local resources, new transportation routes, and upgraded hotels.

Notably, inbound tourism continued to gain momentum during this year's Spring Festival holiday. Ctrip data showed significant year-on-year growth in ticket and hotel bookings. Cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou drew international visitors with their distinctive charm and rich cultural offerings. Moreover, more foreign tourists are exploring China's second- and third-tier cities to discover authentic Chinese culture.

In addition to tourism growth, China's film industry set a new record during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday from Jan 28 to Feb 4 with a box office of 9.51 billion yuan ($1.33 billion) , announced by the China Film Administration. The number of moviegoers also surged to 187 million, achieving milestones in revenue and attendance. The animated feature Ne Zha 2 took the lead with 4.84 billion yuan, while other top performers included Detective Chinatown 1900, Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, Boonie Bears: Future Reborn, and Operation Hadal, ranking from second to sixth, as per film data platform Maoyan.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday, robots have brought a different holiday experience to millions of families, being busy "working overtime" in various settings. Humanoid robots and quadruped robots from several robotics companies based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province made appearances on the stages of evening galas and participated in street activities, becoming a "new scenery" during the festival.

At China Central Television Station's 2025 Spring Festival Gala, 16 humanoid robots from Unitree Robotics participated in a dance performance that blends technology and culture, leaving a profound impression on the audience.

Also taking the stage were the quadruped robots from Hangzhou Deep Robotics Technology. At the 2025 Beijing TV Spring Festival gala, the company's robot dogs "performed" in the short drama Love, Smile, and Robots. On Jan 31, 10 robot dogs also made an appearance at the 2025 Intangible Cultural Heritage Gala.

A Deep Robotics representative revealed that during this Spring Festival, their robotic dogs undertook multiple missions including special exhibitions at the National Museum, cultural tourism performances in Enshi, Hubei province, and lion dance parades on Nanchang Street in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

City streets during the Spring Festival period have also seen the presence of robots. In locations such as Yichang in Hubei province, Nanjing and Suzhou in Jiangsu province, quadruped robots have become a part of the security patrol teams.