China's Spring Festival travel rush to kick off

China's annual Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, will officially kick off on Tuesday, during which an estimated record number of 9 billion trips are expected to be made in the 40-day period of festivities. As passengers have been packing their bags to embark on reunion trips filled with joy and the country braces for the largest annual human migration, observers and economists predict that the upcoming holidays will see a consumption spree, which is set to provide a vivid display of the vitality and dynamism of "an economy on the move."

At 00:02 am on Tuesday, the Beijing West Railway Station will see the first regular-speed passenger train K4159 departing from the city during the Spring Festival travel rush, the Global Times has found. 

A total of 75.74 million railway tickets had been sold as of 4pm on Sunday since the start of Spring Festival travel ticket sales on December 31, 2024, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In Beijing Daxing International Airport, decorations featuring Spring Festival elements like lantern ornaments, posters and window stickers have been hung up, the Global Times learned from the airport operator on Monday. The airport will also open a themed commercial market on Wednesday, featuring cultural activities such as blessing tag writing and stamp collection challenges.

During the travel rush, the airport is expected to handle 37,600 flights, up 5.6 percent year-on-year. Passenger traffic is projected to reach 6.1 million trips during the 40-day period, a year-on-year rise of 9 percent, with a daily average of about 150,000 passengers, the airport said. 

According to the Beijing Daxing International Airport, the travel season will primarily feature passengers traveling for homecoming, family visits, tourism and work. Among the international flights during the festival, popular destinations include Russia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Qatar and the UK.

Data from the Beijing transportation authority also showed on Monday that the total number of passengers in and out of the capital through trains, planes and vehicles will reach 116 million during the travel rush, which translates to a daily average of 2.9 million, up 11 percent year-on-year. 

Tian Yun, a Beijing-based veteran economist, told the Global Times on Monday that he expected China's consumption sector, with a record number of residents on the move, to release more potential and yield more new trends across a "moving China," such as seeing the silver economy, the children's economy, family travel, folk culture tourism and the snow economy taking shape. 

Overall, the Spring Festival travel rush is set to break records this year, with an estimated 9 billion trips expected to be made across the country during the 40-day period starting from Tuesday, official data showed. 

"The record number of passengers, on the one hand, reflects China's significant improvement in cross-regional transportation capacity, whether in aviation, railways or roads. On the other hand, it underscores the country's huge consumption potential and dynamic, which could help the economy get off a good start in the new year," Tian stressed.

China is set to release the annual GDP growth figure of 2024 this week, while the annual GDP growth target for 2025 will be announced during the two sessions. 

Ye Yufei, a white-collar worker in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday that she plans to take her family on a leisure trip in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, during the festival. 

"I plan to spend on a number of leisure activities like diving, banana boating and parasailing, while also enjoying myself with local seafood and specialty snacks. Shopping at the local duty-free shops is also an option," Ye said, unable to hide her excitement over her first trip in the Year of the Snake. 

Data from various travel platforms also pointed to a travel peak in the upcoming eight-day Spring Festival holidays that start on January 28, which also speaks volumes for consumers' confidence and spending power. 

A report released by uzai.com in early January showed that the number of bookings for long-haul destinations for group tourism during the Spring Festival holidays have jumped by 30 percent year-on-year, while the number of travelers has risen by 46 percent. 

Bookings for domestic and overseas tours have also doubled year-on-year during the Spring Festival holidays, data from trip.com showed. In particular, bookings for trips to Hong Kong soared 73 percent year-on-year, while those to the UK, Spain, Italy, France and Iceland jumped 56 percent, 74 percent, 50 percent, 49 percent and 108 percent, respectively.