Travel and tourism booms over Ching Ming Festival

Cici Cao

China has seen a surge in domestic travel during the 2025 Ching Ming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that during the three-day holiday, domestic travel reached 126 million trips, a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase.

Total domestic tourism spending exceeded 57.5 billion yuan (HK$61.36 billion), up 6.7 percent from the same period last year.

Data from Fliggy, a leading online travel agency, showed that average spending per domestic traveler rose by around 5 percent compared to 2024.

Medium-distance self-driving trips of around 500 kilometers - particularly cross-city travel within provinces or to neighboring provinces - were especially popular, the platform said. Flower-viewing and spring outings were the top choices for both short and long-distance trips.

Tongcheng Travel (0780) said cities such as Wuhan, Luoyang, and Wuxi were among the most popular destinations for floral tourism.

In terms of outbound tourism, Fliggy reported that bookings for overseas attraction tickets, international cruises and cross-border train tickets rose by 56 percent, 172 percent, and 293 percent, respectively, from a year ago.

Cross-border travel between Hong Kong and the mainland also saw a sharp uptick.

Hong Kong's Immigration Department recorded 3.39 million passenger trips over the holiday, marking a nearly 19 percent increase year-on-year. Of these, 1.81 million were arrivals and 1.58 million were departures.

In other news, Guangdong province plans to promote a series of countryside variety performances such village galas to boost the rural economy.