Beijing (TDI): China has welcomed the start of 2026 with a strong surge in holiday travel and consumer activity, as New Year celebrations triggered the first major peak in tourism and transportation this year.
Robust passenger traffic and rising spending during the holiday period point to steadily recovering demand and a resilient economic outlook, according to official transport data and major travel platforms.
Economists say the early holiday boom reflects renewed momentum in China’s domestic economy, supported by ongoing policy measures aimed at stimulating consumption and encouraging mobility.
The three-day New Year holiday, running from Thursday to Saturday, compressed travel demand into a short window, leading to heavy movement across the country. Rail travel saw particularly strong volumes. In the Yangtze River Delta, railway authorities expected around 3.7 million passenger trips on Thursday alone, the highest New Year travel figure ever recorded in the region and the busiest day of the holiday period.
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Similar trends were seen in southern China, where China Railway Guangzhou Group projected nearly 2.8 million passenger trips on Thursday, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 16 percent.
Online travel platforms reported that demand far surpassed levels seen in previous years. Data from Qunar showed that flight bookings to popular destinations jumped 26 percent compared with last year. Meanwhile, Tongcheng revealed that domestic hotel reservations were more than three times higher than during the same holiday period in 2025, driven by leisure trips, family gatherings and New Year festivities.
Recent infrastructure and policy developments also helped fuel travel enthusiasm. The introduction of island-wide independent customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port and the launch of the Shenyang–Baishan high-speed railway encouraged tourists to explore both southern beach destinations and northern winter resorts.
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Flights to Haikou, the capital of Hainan Province, ranked among the country’s top ten busiest routes on Thursday, according to Qunar. Self-driving trips surged as well, with Haikou and Sanya leading nationwide growth, recording year-on-year increases of 81 percent and 96 percent, respectively.
Inbound tourism showed particularly strong momentum. Haikou and Sanya recorded the fastest growth in inbound flight bookings across the country, with arrivals increasing more than threefold and fivefold. Overall inbound flight bookings rose by over 20 percent, with travelers mainly arriving from Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and the United States.
Outbound travel also rebounded sharply, as the number of Chinese tourists heading overseas increased by more than 40 percent compared with last year.
The National Immigration Administration forecast that average daily cross-border passenger flows during the holiday period would exceed 2.1 million, marking a 22.4 percent year-on-year rise.
This travel boom has been supported by continued policy easing. China has further optimized its immigration and entry-exit regulations, expanding visa-free access to travelers from 55 countries for stays of up to 10 days, a move designed to facilitate cross-border travel and deepen opening-up efforts.
