China News Service, February 6 (Reporter Li Jinlei) There are 8 days of Spring Festival holiday in 2024, and those who have New Year's Eve holiday like to take a 9-day holiday. With the long Spring Festival holiday, "visiting relatives + traveling" has become the most popular way to celebrate the holiday this year. Many people plan to go home for reunion in the first half of the holiday and travel in the second half. The "North-South Exchange" tour is a popular domestic tourist attraction. During the Spring Festival, cities with “small airports” have become a dark horse, and going to small towns to enjoy the New Year has become a new trend.
Data map: Hangzhou East Railway Station ushered in a peak passenger flow. Photo by Tang Xinyan
"Visiting relatives + traveling" has become the most popular way to spend the holidays this year
"I went back to my hometown for a reunion four days before the holiday, and then went out to play. I planned to take my children to Shanghai Disneyland, and then I went directly back to Beijing." Ms. Su, who works in Beijing, has already planned her trip for the Spring Festival holiday.
Traveling after visiting relatives has become a choice for many people. Data from multiple online travel platforms show that the number of bookings for Spring Festival travel has increased significantly, and people's enthusiasm for travel has accelerated.
As of January 30, hotel bookings in popular cities during the Spring Festival holiday on the Qunar platform increased 3.2 times year-on-year in 2023. The second day of the Lunar New Year is the peak occupancy, and nearly 70% of tourists start their vacation from the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Because of the long holiday this year, passenger travel was relatively scattered in the first half of the Spring Festival, but the overall travel volume was relatively large. There was no obvious trough in travel volume during the holiday. February 7 and February 8 were still the peak travel times before the holiday.
According to Spring Airlines statistics, during the 2024 Spring Festival travel period, Spring Airlines is expected to carry out more than 20,000 flights and transport more than 3.4 million passengers, an increase of 30% and 40% respectively compared to 2019.
"I will be very lucky this year. I can have two New Year's Eve dinners!" According to tour guide Zhou Yunfei's plan, when he returns to Shanghai two days before New Year's Eve, he will immediately invest in "buying New Year's goods and cleaning" at his home. . Because on New Year's Eve, he will take tourists to Wuxi for New Year's Eve dinner. For this reason, the family moved the time for the New Year's Eve dinner to before New Year's Eve.
Data map: The ice sculptures in Harbin Ice and Snow World attract tourists to watch. Photo by Zhao Yuhang published by China News Service
"North-South Exchange" Ice and Snow Tourism Continues to Be Popular
The snowflakes in Harbin and the blooming flowers in Shanghai will bring a good start to the tourism industry in 2024, and also reflect the trend of "residents from the north and south exchanging to celebrate the New Year".
Ctrip data shows that during the Spring Festival, popular domestic destinations are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Harbin, Chengdu, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Sanya, and Kunming. The popularity of tourism in the northern city of Harbin lasted from New Year's Day to the Spring Festival holiday, climbing from not being in the top ten last year to fifth this year, with travel booking orders increasing more than 14 times year-on-year. As for Sanya, Kunming and other cities in the north that are popular with tourists for winter vacations, travel booking orders have increased by more than 2 times and 6 times year-on-year respectively so far.
Tongcheng travel data shows that during this year's Spring Festival, the top ten popular destinations for rail travel are: Chongqing, Harbin, Guiyang, Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Changsha, and Shanghai. Among them, Harbin's popularity ranking rose from 16th to 2nd in the same period in 2023, making it the destination with the most obvious change in the Spring Festival travel rankings.
Northern tourists go south to escape the cold, while southern tourists go north to see the snow. Data from Spring and Autumn Tourism shows that the popularity of ice and snow tourism continues, and the number of reservations for products in the 2024 snow season exceeds the same period in the 2019 snow season. Apart from Shanghai, Sanya and Changbai Mountain have become the two most popular domestic travel destinations during this Spring Festival. Domestic destinations with suitable climates such as Xiamen, Kunming, Quanzhou, Shantou, Beihai, and Guangzhou are also favored by northern tourists.
Going to small towns to enjoy the New Year has become a new trend
The long holiday took the lead in popularizing tourism in many places. Many small town tourist destinations have improved transportation facilities, and the increase in hotel bookings during the Spring Festival is even more obvious.
According to statistics from the Qunar Data Research Institute, 186 tourist destination cities in regional airports with high-quality tourism environments but relatively low reputations have become dark horses as cost-effective destinations for this Spring Festival. As of January 30, the number of Spring Festival hotel bookings on the Qunar platform in Luoyang, Foshan, Baoshan, Pu'er, Altay, Jingdezhen, Liuzhou, Taizhou, Shangrao, Huangshan and other cities increased 4.5 times year-on-year in 2023.
It’s not that big cities can’t afford it, but small towns are more cost-effective. According to Qunar big data, in most small cities with regional airports, the average price of high-star hotels during the Spring Festival is less than 500 yuan/night, and the average price of high-end hotels in Shangrao, Mudanjiang, Baise, and Ganzhou is less than 400 yuan/night.
Go to Huayan Temple in Datong to pray, go to Jingdezhen to "knock porcelain bowls", go to Luoyang to eat water mats, go to Shangrao to make rice cakes, go to Mudanjiang to watch yangko dancing, go to Baise to "send rice dumplings", go to Ganzhou to "kill the New Year pig", and go to Liuzhou to eat snails Fans... The "small airport" city has obvious advantages in being not crowded, not expensive, delicious and fun.
What are your plans for this Spring Festival? (over)