February 15 marked the final day of the Year of the Snake Spring Festival Golden Week, with travelers concentrating on returning home. No large-scale tourist backlogs occurred. Throughout the seven-day holiday, the national tourism market exhibited a pattern of simultaneous heat in both the north and south, as well as surging interest both domestically and internationally.
The Spring Festival Tourism Information Bulletin released by the National Holiday Tourism Inter-agency Coordination Conference Office on the evening of the 15th showed that 39 key tourist cities—including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Harbin, and Sanya—received 76 million visitors during the Golden Week, marking a 15% year-on-year increase. Thirty-three major scenic spots such as the Forbidden City, Jingyuetan, the Three Confucian Sites in Qufu, Boao, and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain saw approximately a 20% rise in visitor numbers during the Spring Festival period.
During the Spring Festival, tourism departments at all levels across the country launched diverse and colorful festive events from south to north. A large number of citizens and tourists contributed to a joyous, celebratory, and harmonious holiday atmosphere. After the holiday began, visitor numbers at most attractions significantly increased, especially for short-distance trips, showing strong enthusiasm among travelers. Folk tours, leisure activities, self-driving trips, and rural tourism around cities saw notable growth. Participatory activities suitable for families, such as temple fairs, gourmet tasting, hot spring bathing, and skiing, were particularly favored by visitors.
For long-distance travel, both southern and northeastern China were popular. Winter tourism in the northeast and escape-from-the-cold travel in southern regions became hot choices for long-haul trips, with cities such as Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian, Xiamen, Haikou, and Sanya being highly sought after.
According to the person in charge of the National Holiday Office’s duty room, outbound tourism continued to grow this Spring Festival, with Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea being popular destinations. Data from the National Group Travel Service Management System showed that travel agencies organized over 4 million mainland tourists to travel abroad during the Golden Week, a 14% year-on-year increase, with over 90% heading to Asian destinations.