During the Qingming holiday, the total cross-regional population flow exceeded 840 million trips, a year-on-year increase of 6%.

Securities Times reporter Tang Ying

As spring vacation policies in many places have been officially rolled out, the Qingming Festival holiday tourism and cultural consumption market has seen a wave of people hitting the road in 2026. According to data released by the Ministry of Transport on April 6, during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday from April 4 to 6, the total volume of interregional passenger movements across the whole society reached 845.38M person-trips, averaging 281.79M person-trips per day, up 6% year over year.

This year, many places across the country have set spring vacation plans for primary and middle school students. In Sichuan, Jiangsu, and other regions, spring vacation started on April 1, and is taken consecutively with the Qingming Festival holiday, extending the original three-day break into a six-day long holiday. For children who have spring vacation, they can enjoy an “extended version of the holiday.” This breaks the previous limitation that Qingming Festival holidays were only good for short trips, and the tourism market is seeing the first peak in travel demand since last Spring Festival.

The rollout of the spring vacation has given rise to a massive group of travelers taking consecutive days off. On April 6, Fliggy released the “2026 Qingming Festival Travel Quick Report,” showing that tourism consumption demand during the Qingming Festival holiday was strong. The number of reservations for tourism services continued to climb on top of last year’s base, and domestic hotel bookings grew by about 40%. “Post-90s” and “Post-85s” parent-child families have become the main force for travel, driving demand for higher-quality tourism services. The average spend per customer for tourism services rose somewhat compared with last year.

Many destinations have also introduced perks such as free admission to scenic spots and free transportation, so children can have an enjoyable and comfortable time. For example, Nanjing and Suzhou launched a program offering free rides with a student ID. Scenic areas such as Huangshan Scenic Area, Nanjing Dacheng Enci Temple, Wolong China Giant Panda Park, and Mount Qingcheng have successively announced ticket discount and exemption offers aimed at primary and middle school students. This series of measures has led to a noticeable year-over-year increase in tourism reservations for these destinations. Taking Jiangsu as an example, the province’s tourism reservations grew nearly 40% year over year. Cities such as Suqian, Nantong, Yancheng, and Xuzhou saw tourism reservation growth rates exceeding 50% year over year.

At the same time, in-depth research-and-study experiences have become a choice for more families. Tuniu released the “2026 Qingming Festival Travel Consumption Review,” which shows that during the spring vacation period, the number of trips taken by parent-child groups increased by more than 2 times compared with the same period last year. Natural experiences, research-and-study programs, and theme parks have become the top picks for parent-child families.

With abundant time off, long-distance travel has become the norm. Platform data shows that for flight segments of 800 kilometers and above, ticket booking heat rose by 80% month over month. Dali, Tengchong, and Xishuangbanna—destinations that were previously constrained by holidays—have seen higher levels of interest.

In terms of travel style, self-driving trips and independent travel have become the mainstream. Platform data shows that among people taking extended breaks, the share of self-driving travel and independent travel reached 40% and 37%, respectively. The car rental market has exploded, with inquiries up 170% year over year. Long-term rental orders of more than 3 days grew by over 65% year over year. SUV models are especially favored because they fit family travel needs.

It is worth noting that, due to the overlap between the Qingming Festival holiday and overseas Easter holiday schedules, cross-border two-way travel has become a prominent feature, forming multiple consumption surges: Hong Kong residents traveling north, mainland residents traveling to Hong Kong, and international inbound travelers. According to Tongcheng Travel data, the booking heat for flights from Hong Kong to the mainland surged by nearly 4 times year over year. Hotel booking heat rose by 8 times year over year. The consumption focus shifted from shopping to cultural exploration and in-depth experiences. Shanghai, Beijing, Sanya, and other cities have become popular choices for long-distance trips. At the same time, the travel heat for mainland residents to Hong Kong also warmed up, with booking heat for high-quality hotels up by nearly 30% year over year. Cultural landmarks such as the Palace Museum Cultural Museum in Hong Kong have become new check-in hotspots.

In addition, the scale of international inbound travel has grown significantly. Tongcheng Travel data shows that during the Qingming Festival holiday, the total number of orders related to inbound travel increased by more than 70% year over year. Young groups from countries and regions such as Thailand, Singapore, and Europe and the United States have become the main force. For these young travelers, popular choices include experiencing the aesthetics created by Jiangnan gardens, learning Chinese kung fu or calligraphy, and studying Chinese tea culture and tea-making techniques. This is helping inbound travel upgrade from “scenery consumption” to “cultural consumption.”

(Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            Holiday
                                                            Tourism