The Spring Festival holiday is getting closer, and returning home and travel bookings have entered their peak period. On January 7, the reporter learned from Ctrip and Fliggy online travel platforms that this year's Spring Festival travel passenger flow will peak around January 20 and continue until January 28. By January 30, demand for holiday travel will explode in a concentrated manner, and family travel will become the main way of travel.

From the travel destination, with the successful application for the Spring Festival of Heritage, traditional cultural tourism has been unprecedentedly popular, and the unique folk experience is very popular. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu and other places are still the most lively destinations during the Spring Festival. It is worth mentioning that with the implementation of favorable policies such as the continuous expansion of the "visa-free circle", inbound travel orders increased by 203% year-on-year during the Spring Festival.

According to Feizhu data, the search popularity of "intangible cultural heritage tours" related to the platform, which includes intangible cultural heritage attractions, intangible cultural heritage experiences, increased by 133% month-on-month. Visiting lantern festivals, temple fairs, enjoying folk songs and dance performances, wearing Hanfu travel photography, etc. are popular experience projects.

Ctrip platform data shows that during the Spring Festival, popular domestic destinations include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Harbin, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Kunming, Xi'an, Chongqing and other places. The popularity of niche destinations such as Quanzhou, Chaozhou, Shantou, Zigong, Datong, and Xingyi has soared. Judging from the booking orders, Tongling, Huangshan, Datong, Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou have grown significantly, up about 4 times year-on-year. In addition, it is expected that the proportion of parent-child families will increase to 49% among tourists traveling during the Spring Festival in 2025, and the order volume will increase by 75% compared with the same period in 2024.

It is worth noting that since 2024, the continuous expansion of the "visa-free circle" and under the influence of the new policy of "240-hour transit visa-free", the rapid growth of inbound tourism is also a highlight of the tourism market during the Spring Festival in 2025. Ctrip data shows that inbound travel orders during the Spring Festival increased by 203% year-on-year, and the main source countries are: South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Australia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Russia, Vietnam, etc. Domestic destinations that foreign tourists are passionate about include Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Harbin, Chengdu, Xiamen, Zhuhai, Chongqing, and Hangzhou.

In terms of outbound travel, the number of bookings for related hotels, air tickets, route tours, etc. has significantly exceeded the same period last year. The relatively cheaper air ticket prices and looser visa policies have made Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore the hottest overseas destinations for Spring Festival bookings on Fliggy platforms.

In terms of price, the average price of air tickets, hotels and other products for outbound travel has decreased compared with last year, among which the average price of air tickets for outbound travel has been lowered by nearly 5 percentage points year-on-year. In addition, there are many special routes worth "picking up bargains". For example, during the Spring Festival, the minimum ticket for direct flights from Shanghai to Jeju Island starts at least 284 yuan, and the minimum ticket for direct flights from Beijing to Ordos is only 298 yuan.