The Spring Festival, traditionally a time for family reunions and cultural celebrations, has transformed into a golden week for domestic tourism in China.

Did you travel during the Spring Festival holiday? What was the most memorable part of your trip?

Hangzhou's tourism market showed a better-than-expected performance over the just-ended seven-day Spring Festival holiday, which started on Feb 10.

Resurgence of tourism market

Hangzhou received a total of 13.5067 million visits during this Spring Festival holiday, representing an increase of 53.9% increase year-on-year.

Among them, the West Lake Scenic Area saw a total of 5.0441 million visits, a 23.72% increase compared to 2019. According to the official statistics, 1.3875 million visits have been made to the parks that require entrance fees, with Feilaifeng Scenic Area, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, and the Hangzhou Zoo as the top three sites.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the daily passenger volume of Bus No.7 in Hangzhou, connecting the Hubin business area and the West Lake scenic spots, exceeded 70,000, comparable to the passenger volume of a subway line in some cities, breaking the record for the highest passenger flow ever recorded in the city.

The proportion of out-of-Zhejiang tourists during the holiday saw a significant increase from 38.2% to 47.3% compared to the New Year's Day holiday; according to the data, the air passenger flow to Hangzhou in the last seven-day reached 331,000, a 170.0% increase compared to 2023.

Over 155,000 people entered and exited the China from Zhejiang during the 2024 Spring Festival. Thailand has been one of the most popular choices for outbound travel during the holiday, and the passenger flow from Hangzhou Port to Thailand surpassed 41,800 from Jan 1 to Feb 18 this year.

Boost of holiday economy

In general, Hangzhou's consumption scale ranks first in Zhejiang province, and the average daily consumption scale of the life service industry ranks ninth among cities nationwide.

According to data, the total consumption amount in Hangzhou during the Spring Festival period surpassed 16.6 billion yuan, an increase of 5.4% compared to 2023 and 63.3% compared to 2019. Hotel bookings on Fliggy also doubled compared to 2019, with West Lake Scenic Area, Qiandao Lake Scenic Area, Hangzhoudong Railway Station, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, and Lingyin Temple Scenic Area standing out to be the most popular areas.

In addition, this year's Spring Festival holiday has witnessed a record high in Chinese box office. From Feb 10 to 17, the country grossed a whopping 8.02 billion yuan from 163 million tickets. The box office data for films in Hangzhou was also exceptionally high with a total of 112,188 million yuan and 2,121 million tickets being sold, an average of 265,000 tickets per day.

The operation rate of 280 graded bed-and-breakfast lodges in Hangzhou reached 93.6% and the average occupancy rate rose to 56.04%. During the holiday, each lodge received about 110 visitors on average with an average price of about 867.73 yuan/room (night).

Diversity of cultural celebrations

This Spring Festival marked an increasing number of people who have chosen to venture out of their homes to explore different landscapes, with traveling while visiting one's family being one of the most prominent features, and parent-child and whole family travel becoming a highlight accounting for 21.8% of all.

Cultural experience tourism products ushered in an explosive growth. New experiences and scenes such as temple fairs, lantern shows, cultural performances, folk experience and village galas, have been attracting tourists to take snapshots and stay overnights. The Spring Festival holiday has turned itself into the best window for cultural display.

Some examples are: Hangzhou Chaoshan Plum Blossom Festival opened at the start of Chinese New Year with a series of upgraded experience activities such as float parades, leisure markets and camping; the "Song Painting Coffee" at Deshou Palace sells 150-160 cups a day, which means one cup was sold every 2-3 minutes; Xiaoshan district hosted the "Dragon Lantern Festival" at Xitou Village Square, showcasing the national heritage of dragon lanterns, attracting crowds from near and far.

As Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy put it, folk activities highlighting traditional Chinese culture are increasingly attractive to travelers. Dai said that positive reports in foreign media about the Spring Festival holiday will help China build an increasingly positive global image and boost international tourism cooperation.