13.5 million people have traveled to or from the territory of China during the Spring Festival holiday in 2024, the country’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) has announced.
According to the same source, the figure is almost three times as much as last year, close to 90 percent of the number in 2019 before the pandemic. On average, about 1.7 million people were on the move every day, VisaGuide.World reports.
Authorities also checked 459,000 vehicles crossing the borders, 1.6 times more than last year. Most people entered or exited through land ports connecting Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, accounting for 73.1 percent of all trips.
Domestic tourism boomed over the holidays, with 474 million trips, a 34.3 percent increase over last year. People spent over CNY 632.6 billion, almost 50 percent more than before.
Based on NIA data, 1.857 million passengers were registered for one day during the Spring Festival.
Zhuhai & Shenzhen Ports Report Massive Passenger Surges
Three ports were very busy in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao areas. Zhuhai Gongbei averaged 260,000 passengers daily, Shenzhen Luohu had 187,000, and Shenzhen Futian had 158,000.
At Zhuhai’s Gongbei Port, over 2.08 million people traveled between Zhuhai and Macau in the first eight days of the holiday, up more than 60 percent from last year. On the busiest day, more than 280,000 people traveled. In addition, cross-border tourists accounted for 40 percent of all travelers, marking a whopping 221 percent increase.
As the NIA reports, even the airports were full. Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun, and Beijing Capital International saw a daily average of 88,000, 37,000, and 34,000 passengers, respectively. These figures increased by 4.9 times, 6.2 times, and 7.5 times compared to last year’s Spring Festival.
Self-driving platforms, like Zuzuche, are making lesser-known international destinations more popular among Chinese tourists. This Spring Festival, the number of tourists driving themselves abroad increased by a huge 1556 percent compared to last year. Some of the fastest-growing places are Christchurch, Tromso, Gold Coast, Hobart, Abu Dhabi, Langkawi, Seville, and Riyadh. For example, Christchurch saw 89 times more tourists, Gold Coast 67 times more, Tromso 58 times more, and Abu Dhabi 85 times more.
Singapore, Malaysia, & Thailand Dominate Spring Festival Travel in China
During the Spring Festival holiday, more people chose to travel to visa-free countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. The number of tourists in these countries has increased by over 30 percent compared to 2019.
The top ten places to visit on holiday were Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea, the United States, Indonesia, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. Among them, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand were the top three.
There was a massive increase in long-distance travel during the Spring Festival. Data provided by Ctrip revealed that family travel and travel with children became the most common way to travel, accounting for 45 percent and 16 percent of bookings respectively. Almost 58 percent of overseas trips were with children. Family flight bookings increased by 80 percent compared to last year.