(Economic Observation) Spring Break Meets Qingming: China's Holiday Economy Shows Vitality

Ask AI · How to Activate the Spring Festival–Qingming Family Spending Boom by “Stringing Together” the Holidays?

China News Service, Beijing, April 7 (Reporter Liu Wenwen) In many places, the spring school holiday for primary and middle schools has been “stitched together” with the Qingming holiday, forming a 6-day “mini-holiday,” which in turn has sparked a holiday consumption surge covering transportation, tourism, catering, retail, and other fields, injecting vitality into China’s overall consumption.

Holiday travel first saw strong growth in the rate of people going out, with the scale of population movement reaching another new high. Data from the Ministry of Transport shows that during this year’s Qingming holiday, the total cross-regional person-flow across the country is expected to exceed 845 million person-trips, averaging about 282 million person-trips per day, up 6% compared with the 2025 Qingming holiday.

In previous Qingming holidays, many tourists mostly chose short-distance trips; this year, after taking the Qingming holiday back-to-back with the spring holiday, tourists go farther and stay longer. Monitoring data from the China Tourism Academy shows that mid-range tourism of more than 500 kilometers and long-distance tourism of more than 800 kilometers have increased noticeably. Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that the radius of tourists’ trips and the radius of destinations increased by more than 10 and more than 20 percentage points, respectively. Tongcheng Travel data also shows that orders for long-distance trips by family-with-children households doubled year over year, while the booking heat for air segments above 800 kilometers increased by 80% quarter over quarter.

Family-with-children spending has become the core main line of this mini-holiday, driving consumption across the entire industry chain, including accommodation, transportation, catering, cultural and creative products, and study tours. According to “Where to Go” travel data, from April 1 to 6, the increase in passengers aged 13 to 18 on flights reached 70%; among the group that purchased their “first plane ticket” on that platform, children under 12 grew by 73%, and Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Nanjing have become the country’s most popular destinations for “first flight.”

Local areas have also stepped up benefits for people’s well-being, further fueling families’ enthusiasm for travel. For example, Nanjing has built a dedicated service platform for “Young Jinling Travel,” releasing 16 high-quality parent-child study tour routes; scenic areas including Huangshan Scenic Area, Wolong China Giant Panda Garden, and Mount Qingcheng have successively released ticket-discount offers aimed at primary and middle school students. With policy benefits stacking on top of travel demand, regional culture and tourism consumption has been boosted; taking Jiangsu as an example, Fliggy data shows that tourism bookings across the province increased by nearly 40% year over year.

As the data continues to rise, the upgrade in the meaning and content of consumption is even more significant as an indicator of direction. In the past, Qingming outings mainly focused on sightseeing such as flower viewing, mountain climbing, and visiting gardens; this year, immersive, culture-oriented, and experience-based consumption has become the mainstream new trend.

Business big data monitoring by the Ministry of Commerce shows that during the Qingming holiday, theme-park consumption nationwide increased by 11.7% year over year; parent-child study tour orders achieved a year-over-year doubling; and car rental and self-driving orders rose by about 40%. More and more consumers are willing to pay for high-quality immersive experiences, favoring personalized travel choices such as study and tour programs, theme vacations, and self-drive options.

This upgrade from “sightseeing” to “experiences” is also reflected in local data. During the Qingming holiday, Sichuan Provincial Library, cultural centers, and museums cumulatively received 1.8367 million visitors from the public, up 56.63% year over year. With strong momentum in cultural consumption growth, people’s travel demand has shifted from “seeing things on the way” to “immersively enjoying culture,” and the level of consumers’ choice in goods has continued to improve.

When the spring holiday coincides with Qingming, the mini-holiday has activated consumption momentum across the whole region. From rushing to short trips to leisurely roaming on long routes; from sightseeing check-ins to in-depth experiences—the booming development of the holiday economy is both a vivid reflection of the immense market potential in China and also injects momentum into consumption growth throughout the year. (End)