What is the key to the vitality of the spring economy

A spring breeze brushes the face, and all things revive. The culture and tourism market is also welcoming “spring.” During this year’s Qingming holiday, the number of trips for transportation and travel exceeded 840 million person-trips. With multiple categories overlapping—parent-child trips, nearby getaways, and long-distance travel—ticket volumes on several popular flight routes grew year over year by more than 40%.

To capture passenger flows, locations across the country have continued to roll out new consumption scenarios. From flower-field music events to low-altitude flower viewing, from using flowers as a medium to using festivals to build connections, they are together painting a springtime consumption picture of coordinated urban-rural efforts and blended business formats.

Industry insiders believe that how to keep innovating supply models and improving service quality—so that “looks” and “value” are mutually pulling toward each other—is the key to keeping the spring economy vibrant.

Consumer scenarios continue to heat up

Once again, it’s Qingming time. At Hangzhou’s Xixi Wetland, the Flower-as-a-Season theme activities arrive as scheduled. Twelve “Flower Gods,” along with a hundred-plus Hanfu enthusiasts, hold ceremonial rites and kick off a parade. In the wetland park, 105 types of flowers and nearly 80,000 potted flower plants bloom in sequence, sketching a beautiful springtime scene unique to Jiangnan.

A report released by Tongcheng Travel shows that during this year’s Qingming period, traditional rural tourism, flower-viewing trips, and mountain-climbing trips remain the most sought after spring-themed options. Across the country, people keep unlocking “N ways to play spring,” drawing people to a springtime rendezvous.

In the Sakura Valley of Shenjiashan in Malong District, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, more than 400 acres of cherry blossoms burst across the hills, turning the entire valley into a sea of pink. “The cherry blossoms all over the mountain are especially beautiful, and there are all kinds of activities you can join. By the time the trip is over, you’ll have had a really fulfilling day.” Tourist Yang Yuting drove all the way from Kunming specifically to come see the flowers, and in her hand she also held a cherry-blossom cultural and creative product she had just bought.

If flower viewing is the spring special for literary youth, then “food lovers’ spring” is hidden in a variety of tempting fresh flavors. Right now, spring wild produce is right “for eating.” People in Shaanxi who want to try the new flavors carry bamboo baskets, hold small shovels, dig for mugwort shoots, pick for alfalfa sprouts, and search for shepherd’s purse—turning these mountain spring greens into seasonal delicacies.

The humble qingtuan (green dumpling) can be counted among Qingming’s most distinctive palate symbols. “I like the one with spring bamboo shoot and snow mustard filling. My family likes it sweet. Every spring, we buy a little of different flavors to try and taste the freshness.” Mr. Lu, a resident of Hangzhou, said. Dingdong Maicai’s consumption data shows that around the Qingming holiday, the platform’s overall sales revenue of spring vegetables increased by 20% year over year. The consumption philosophy of “eating in season” is gaining deeper acceptance among people.

Folk customs and intangible cultural heritage also light up the spring economy. “Crush the silkworm flowers for Qingming—the more enthusiastically you crush them, the better the harvest.” A long-circulated folk saying in Zhejiang has led to a “Qingming Crushing Silkworm Flowers” folk event in Tongxiang. During the parade segment, “Silkworm Flower Fairies” ride flower boats to scatter silkworm flowers. The lineup is huge and energetic, and the scenes are full of prayers for a bountiful harvest—brimming with Jiangnan’s distinctive romance and lively festivity.

Lin Shanshan, an associate professor in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at the School of Management, Zhejiang University, says that from spring scenery to spring food to spring folk customs, the spring economy is no longer simply a “flower-viewing economy.” Instead, it is a round of seasonal service-consumption expansion jointly formed by going out for spring outings, short-distance getaways, outdoor leisure, intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products, rural consumption, and spring sports events—driving the culture and tourism market to keep warming up.

Multiple forces join in to release the surging momentum of the spring economy

Those interviewed said that the vitality of the spring economy bursting forth comes not only from the release of consumer demand brought by seasonal characteristics, but also from efforts in different places to inject strong momentum—such as innovating consumption formats and keeping consumption channels flowing.

— Emotional value guidance. The rise of the spring economy is a two-way convergence of emotional value and economic value. That streak of fresh green and the fragrant freshness of spring hit exactly the “emotional must-have” felt by many modern people: the desire to get close to nature.

In Zhejiang Shaoxing GuZhu Village, 480 mu of colorful rapeseed flowers stretch on like an ocean. Visitors hold up their phones to freeze the scene of golden color all around. In the pavilions, people gather to sit together and sing in chorus, while others sit quietly on benches soaking in the spring light. “Originally, I just wanted to take photos. I didn’t expect we could also go camping and experience picking tea leaves. The kids had so much fun they didn’t want to leave.” In the view of Ms. Wang, a visitor, the sea of flowers is no longer a scenery you “look at and then leave.” It has become a spring destination that you can stay at, experience, and revisit.

From “instant check-ins” to “emotional collecting,” this spring, major brands have successively launched spring-only limited-edition makeup and traditional-style garments. Scenic areas carefully design stamp-collection and check-in activities that can be exchanged for cultural and creative products, and farmers build seasonal spring-flavor gift boxes. Through a series of measures that strengthen a sense of “exclusivity” and “collectible value,” the natural urgency of “miss it and wait a whole year” is ingeniously transformed into a driving force for consumption right now.

— Business-format innovation fuels momentum. The continued warming of the spring economy cannot be separated from innovative breakthroughs in consumption scenarios. In Chongzhou, Sichuan, a hot pot is set up in a rapeseed flower field; visitors eat while admiring the flowers, joking that it’s like “eating spring in one bite.” In Jiaxing, Zhejiang, a ticket stub from the Zhejiang Provincial City Football League (the Wu-Yue Cup) can unlock a locally offered exclusive spring outing and watching package, with multiple benefits including discounts covering accommodation, sightseeing, and dining.

Many places have also taken up “ColorWalk.” Using spring colors such as sakura pink, rapeseed flower yellow, and pear blossom white as the theme, it links artistic installations along the route, specialty small shops, and cultural landmarks—turning the whole city into an open spring exhibition hall. Walk all the way, see all the way, eat all the way, and buy all the way; it not only drives consumption along the route but also lets people truly step into the depths of the city.

— Policy support drives growth. Since March, many places have issued culture and tourism consumption vouchers, reduced or waived scenic area ticket fees, and rolled out premium itineraries—using policy levers to stimulate market warmth. Railway departments have run “flower-viewing special trains” and added intercity trains, coordinating with local transportation departments to open connecting shuttle lines, breaking through the “last mile” of flower-viewing travel.

This spring, many places including Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui have implemented spring breaks for primary and middle school students. Family travel demand has increased significantly, and it has also driven a sharp surge in bookings for flights, homestays, and scenic areas. Yang Han, a researcher at the Data Research Institute of Qunar, says that the Qingming non-adjustment holiday arrangement, combined with spring-break policies, upgrades the previous three-day short-distance spring outings into long-distance vacations. This smooths fluctuations in the culture-and-tourism industry’s off-peak and peak seasons and effectively stimulates domestic demand.

From a “single booming season” to “spring all year round”

As flowers bloom in full splendor, each bloom still has its season. The question of how to sustain the heat of the spring economy is also on the agenda for governments everywhere and for all practitioners.

In the view of Zhang Yi, a professor at Zhejiang Tourism Polytechnic College, although the spring economy is surging with enthusiasm, it also faces difficulties such as homogenization, “flowering-period limitations,” and pressure on ecological carrying capacity. It needs to break the mold through innovation, establish itself through distinctive features, and replace short-term frenzy with long-term operations—so that the spring economy can move from “one-season prosperity” to “four-season green.”

Zhang Yi believes that localities should deepen their local distinctive characteristics and avoid simple copying. They should build differentiated spring culture-and-tourism IP by combining regional ecological resources, folk customs, and industrial advantages. They should extend the industrial chain as well, promoting diverse integration such as “flower viewing + intangible heritage,” “flower viewing + planting,” “flower viewing + food,” and “flower viewing + hiking,” to achieve a shift from one-season flower viewing to four-season experiences.

“Whether the spring economy can develop in a healthy way depends on whether, after visitors come, they can play smoothly, stay comfortably, and shop with peace of mind.” Lin Shanshan says that localities should treat culture-and-tourism service quality and the consumption environment as hard constraints rather than as optional extras. They should continue to improve the public service system for culture and tourism, simplify scenic area reservation procedures, optimize tourism transportation supporting measures, and enhance the human-oriented and professional levels of services.

Only when each part of the spring economy finds its own beauty can everyone share a beautiful whole. Liang Xuecheng, director of the Department of Tourism Management at the School of Economics and Management, Northwest University, recommends using new technologies such as artificial intelligence to create new spring services, offering new experience spaces that combine the virtual and the real. It is also important to deepen and expand the added value of the spring economy, giving people different immersive experiences.