2025 Spring Festival travel rush reaches new highs

Domestic travel in China is projected to hit a record high during the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush, with around nine billion inter-regional movements, up seven percent year on year. Among them, "ice tourism" and "warm tourism" have become popular cultural and tourism attractions, CGTN reports. 

Ice tourism: northern cities welcome tourism boom

Harbin, Changchun, Urumqi, and other northern cities have become popular choices for ice and snow tourism. With the increasing popularity of ice and snow sports in China, many tourists have developed interests to admire ice sculptures, experience skiing and other ice and snow activities. According to data from a Chinese travel platform, the number of travel bookings for the ice and snow city of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has increased by 32 percent year on year.

Warm tourism: southern cities become best choices

At the same time, due to the low winter temperatures in the northern regions, many northern tourists have chosen southern cities to enjoy the warm sunshine and pleasant climate. According to the "2025 Spring Festival Tourism Market Forecast Report" released by online travel service providerCtrip, warm southern cities such as Kunming, Fuzhou, and Xiamen have seen their travel bookings increased by 18 percent, 30 percent, and 16 percent year on year, respectively.

In addition, under the continuous expansion of the visa-free policy since 2024, the rapid growth of inbound tourism has also become a highlight of the 2025 Spring Festival tourism market. Data from Ctrip shows that international tourism bookings during the Spring Festival have increased by 203 percent year on year. In particular, the visa-free treatment for South Korean passport holders implemented at the end of 2024 has attracted a large number of South Korean tourists, with the number of tourism bookings from the country increasing by 452 percent year on year during the coming Spring Festival period.

Earlier it was reported that China introduced an update to its visa-free transit policy last December, extending the allowed stay for eligible foreign travelers to 240 hours, or 10 days, up from the previous 72 to 144 hours.