More and more residents start the Lunar New Year with travel
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 10
Welcome the New Year and go traveling! From New Year’s Eve to the first day of the Lunar New Year, cultural and tourism activities such as Spring Festival lantern festivals, flower markets, temple fairs, dragon and lion dances are abundant in various places, driving cultural and tourism consumption to rise. Tourists flock to major scenic spots and business districts, and more and more residents are starting the Lunar New Year by traveling.
“Take a step forward, there is a great place at your doorstep”
On the morning of the 10th, Longhua Plaza in Xuhui District, Shanghai was crowded with people who lived nearby and tourists who drove there. People may write postcards to relatives and friends far away at the “New Year Post Office” in the square; or they may bathe in the sunshine and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, which is so pleasant.
As night falls, the “flaming trees and silver flowers” decorating the Ginkgo Avenue in the square light up one after another, reflecting on the pool, and the lights are like fluttering butterflies. Tourist “Zhi Zhi” posted the photos she took on the social platform and sighed: “It was worth driving more than ten kilometers to come here, and I am full of New Year atmosphere!”
During the Lunar New Year holiday, Shanghai has successively launched more than 200 cultural and tourism activities in eight sections, creating an urban New Year’s experience shared by guests and guests. Data released by the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau on the evening of the 10th showed that Shanghai received a total of 1.7299 million tourists that day, a year-on-year increase of 4.58%.
According to big data statistics from the travel platform, on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, domestic travel orders increased by 102% year-on-year, and domestic airport transfer orders increased by 75% year-on-year, both significantly exceeding the levels of the same period in 2019. In cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Kunming, and Harbin, tourist arrivals and scenic spot ticket orders have achieved substantial year-on-year growth.
“When traveling, traditional culture makes the scenery more flavorful”
Traditional culture is being integrated into people’s New Year activities in a more modern and fashionable way, making the cultural landscape more flavorful. Folk cultural activities such as the traditional Winter Winter Flower Market in Guangzhou, the Qinhuai Lantern Festival in Nanjing, and the Mianzhu New Year Painting Exhibition in Sichuan are very popular among tourists.
To welcome the Year of the Dragon, the Xi’an City Wall New Year Lantern Festival centered on the theme of “Lights Warm Chang’an·The Chinese Year of the Dragon” and displayed nearly 20 lanterns in four major lantern areas: “Shining Chang’an”, “Luck for the World“, “Splendid China” and “Dream Childlike Innocence”. Set lanterns. Many classic dragon elements such as “Red Mountain Jade Dragon” and “Red Gold Walking Dragon” are gathered on the city wall and organically integrated with the intangible cultural heritage lamp-making craftsmanship to create a strong festive atmosphere.
“Although it is crowded and cold at night, it is really beautiful and worth it!” Mr. Zhou, a tourist from Beijing, exclaimed. Mr. Zhou said that his 12-year-old daughter has recently fallen in love with wearing Hanfu, so he is particularly looking forward to this trip to the ancient capital. Not only can he learn a lot of historical knowledge, but he can also be influenced by China’s excellent traditional culture, and it is a very enjoyable trip.
“See the world, the recovery pace of outbound travel is accelerating”
On New Year’s Eve, Ms. Zhang, a Chongqing citizen, wrote on “Moments”: “I wish everyone New Year’s greetings from overseas! Singapore is very warm, and ‘shopping and eating’ is really a good idea!” In the accompanying picture, she and her daughter are wearing Wearing cool short skirts, the elderly parents stood in front of the plant landscape and took selfies. The whole family was very happy.
Ms. Zhang said that the direct flight to Singapore only takes about 5 hours, and with the newly implemented visa-free policy, although this trip was an impromptu trip a few days ago, it has truly become a “just go”.
More and more residents like Ms. Zhang are going abroad for the New Year. According to the prediction of the National Immigration Administration, ports across the country will usher in a new round of peak inbound and outbound passenger flow during this Spring Festival holiday, with the average number of people passing through customs every day reaching 1.8 million, an increase of approximately 3.3 times compared with last year’s Spring Festival, and equivalent to the inbound and outbound flow during the Spring Festival in 2019.
According to the “China Outbound Tourism Development Report (2023-2024)” recently released by the China Tourism Academy, as my country’s tourism market momentum and residents’ willingness to travel abroad increase, the pace of international tourism recovery is expected to accelerate significantly. It is predicted that the number of outbound tourists in 2024 will reached 130 million passengers.
Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, said that as Singapore, Thailand and other countries have implemented visa-free policies for Chinese tourists, these countries are becoming the most popular outbound travel destinations for Chinese tourists during the Spring Festival holiday, which will greatly promote the prosperity of cultural tourism consumption.