New Year holiday drives travel peak

China's tourism market hit its first travel peak of the year during the three-day New Year holiday period starting Thursday, with a strong festive demand drawing both domestic and international travelers to destinations across the country.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said 142 million domestic trips were made during the holiday, generating about 84.8 billion yuan ($12.13 billion) in tourism revenue. This year's three-day holiday lasted two days longer than last year, a likely contributor to travel demand.

Yan Lijie and three of her university dorm mates spent New Year's Eve on Wednesday night at Beijing's 798 Art District, an industrial heritage art zone, before staying in the city for a two-day tour through Friday.

"We are in our third year at a college in Tianjin, neighboring Beijing, and it's our dorm's tradition to spend New Year's Eve in a nearby city over the past two years," said Yan, 23. "There were so many activities, including art exhibitions, fairs and performances that night, and the rich festive atmosphere really touched us."

Qi Chunguang, vice-president of travel portal Tuniu, said tourism consumption during the holiday showed increasing diversification, with the market offering a wider range of options such as theme park tours, winter tourism and temple visits for new year blessings.

"We've noticed that younger travelers show stronger preferences for concerts, music festivals, drone shows or fireworks displays to count down to the new year," Qi said.

Data from travel platform Qunar supported that observation. Taking Kaifeng in central China's Henan province as an example, Qunar said hotel bookings in the city tripled during the holiday, driven by its two Chinese-style theme parks — Wansuishan and Millennium City Park.

Qunar said that beyond first-tier cities such as Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Beijing and Shanghai, smaller counties and towns also attracted large numbers of travelers welcoming the New Year.

"Hotels booked by our users span more than 1,000 counties nationwide this holiday, ranging from warmer Nan'ao in South China's Guangdong province to northern counties such as Antu in Jilin province, known for snow scenery and winter resorts," Qunar said.

Inbound and outbound tourism also recorded strong growth. Qunar said its users booked hotels in nearly 3,000 cities worldwide during the holiday, with short-haul overseas destinations including Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong among the top three choices.

The platform added that a growing number of international tourists chose to ring in the New Year on the Chinese mainland. Travelers holding non-Chinese passports booked flights to 97 cities across China, with Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing attracting the largest numbers.

"Most international tourists came from neighboring countries, including Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, while visitors from Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and the United States also recorded significant growth during the holiday," Qunar said.

Figures released on Sunday by the National Immigration Administration showed about 6.62 million inbound and outbound trips by Chinese and foreign travelers during the three-day holiday. Of those, about 828,000 trips were made by foreign nationals, representing a year-on-year increase of 29.8 percent.

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn