[When the Spring Festival travel season is in progress]
"I won't order takeaway from tomorrow. This small dining table can finally put some delicious food made by my parents!" On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, Wang Bingke, who has been working in Beijing for six years, finally got his parents to agree to come to Beijing from his hometown of Dali, Yunnan to celebrate the New Year.
After buying air tickets for his parents, Wang Bingke started calling to make appointments for cleaning. "I'm usually busy with work, so I haven't cleaned up the house properly. Before the Chinese New Year, I have to do a big cleaning to welcome my parents."
When it comes to Spring Festival travel, in many people's habitual cognition, it is the "big migration" of the population who return to their hometowns before the festival and return to the city after the festival.
But now, with the change of people's thinking and concept, there are more and more "reverse Spring Festival travel" tourists like Wang Bingke's parents.
"Reverse Spring Festival Transport" is also known as "reverse reunion", which means that young people bring their parents and children from their hometown to the city where they work for the New Year, and then return to their hometown after the festival.
With this trendy way of Chinese New Year, children don’t have to worry about holiday time, high-speed congestion, high ticket prices and other factors. They can fulfill their filial piety and enjoy family reunion.
Wang Bingke told reporters that as a foreigner who works in Beijing all year round, the first choice for Chinese New Year is definitely to go back to his hometown.
But his family is far away from Beijing, and he can’t stay at home for a few days during the Spring Festival holiday. The economic cost and time cost of returning to Dali are high, so this year Wang Bingke decided to let his parents come to Beijing to celebrate the New Year together, and he can also take his parents there. Visit the sights around Beijing.
"Take the air ticket as an example. If I go back to Dali from Beijing on New Year's Eve or New Year's Eve, the air ticket plus tax will cost 2,600 yuan, but the flight from Dali to Beijing at the same time will only cost less than 600 yuan. The round-trip air tickets for my parents are not as expensive as my own one-way ticket." Wang Bingke said that during the Spring Festival, there are a lot of tourists in Dali, and the price of goods has also risen.
The 2023 Spring Festival travel forecast report released by a travel website shows that Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other big cities are popular destinations for this year's "Spring Festival travel". The airline fare discount is very strong, and the ticket source is also very sufficient.
At the same time, the railway department has also expanded the range of trains with discounted fares in the off-peak direction, providing cheaper options for "reverse Spring Festival travel" passengers.
Zhang Xiaodong, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, pointed out that the emergence of the phenomenon of "reverse spring travel" is the result of the joint action of many factors.
Objectively, there is an upside-down factor in the transportation resources of the Spring Festival, and when it is difficult to find a ticket, some people began to do the opposite, changing the way of reunion during the New Year.
Subjectively, it also reflects the change of public opinion. With the development of society, the concept of the inseparability of the homeland has gradually faded, and more and more people have begun to agree that as long as the family gets together, it is a reunion year wherever they are.
In addition, the increase in passenger flow during the "Reverse Spring Festival Transport" is not unrelated to the demographic composition in addition to the change in concept.
Zhao Yixin, dean of the Urban Transportation Research Branch of China Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, said that the significance of the Spring Festival lies in family reunion. Parents of the previous generation often raised multiple children, so these children returning to their parents together is the basic mode of reunion.
But now the proportion of only children is very high. In such families, whether the children return to their parents or the parents come to their children, the meaning of reunion itself is the same. "Spring Festival Transport" has an open attitude.
As far as the characteristics of transportation are concerned, traveling from south to north and returning with a full load should be the ideal state for the balanced allocation of transport capacity and the maximization of benefits.
The relevant person in charge of the Transportation Service Department of the Ministry of Transport stated that the discounts offered by the transport department to the "Reverse Spring Festival Transport" air tickets are a kind of economic guidance for passengers to actively fill the capacity gap. If the "Reverse Spring Festival Transport" becomes The choice of more passengers for the New Year will not only benefit transportation companies, but also improve the travel comfort of passengers to varying degrees.
"Usually because of busy work, the communication with parents is to make phone calls and send videos. For parents, the reunion during the Chinese New Year may be their biggest expectation of the year." Whether in your hometown or in a big city, as long as you can reunite with your family, it is a happy year.
(Our reporter Zi Qian)