Holiday brings travel, revenue boom

The three-day Qingming Festival holiday saw robust growth in visitor numbers as well as revenue, as the traditional Tomb Sweeping Festival coincided with students' spring break in many regions.

Preliminary data from provincial tourism authorities showed double-digit growth in both visitor numbers and revenue.

As of 3 pm on Sunday, the second day of the Qingming holiday, 899 A-level tourist attractions in Sichuan province had received a total of 5.77 million visits, up 14.51 percent compared with the same period in 2025, according to official data. Ticket revenue reached 60.74 million yuan ($8.83 million), marking a 16.84 percent year-on-year increase.

This year's Qingming Festival fell on Sunday, with the three-day holiday spanning from Saturday to Monday.

In Anhui province, A-level and above scenic spots received 4.08 million visits on Sunday, which was a 23.3 percent increase year-on-year, generating 54.27 million yuan in ticket revenue — a year-on-year rise of 9.8 percent.

Hubei province reported that, over the first two days of the holiday, more than 700 A-level and above tourist attractions under key monitoring received a total of 5.9 million visits — a year-on-year increase of 15.66 percent.

The Beijing Administration Center of Parks announced that parks in the capital saw a surge in visitor numbers on the second day of the holiday, with 873,600 visits. During the three-day holiday, the parks recorded a total of 2.17 million visits. The three most popular parks in the capital were the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and Yuyuantan Park.

The travel boom was partly driven by the coinciding spring break, which in many places lasted six days, from Wednesday to Monday. According to online travel agency Qunar, the number of passengers traveling more than 800 kilometers increased by more than 30 percent compared with the same period last year. The number of flight passengers age 13 to 18 increased 70 percent, while visits by that age group to scenic spots surged nearly fourfold, the data showed.

"The combination of a three-day Qingming holiday without forced workday makeups and the spring break policy upgraded short-distance outings to long-haul vacations," said Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar's big data institute.

This helped smooth seasonal fluctuations in the cultural tourism industry and effectively boosted domestic demand, Yang said.

Outbound travel remained popular as well, with South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia being the top destinations. Meanwhile, inbound tourism saw a spike driven by homecoming trips for tomb-sweeping as well as spring sightseeing. According to Qunar, visitor numbers from Bangladesh, Brazil and Turkiye grew more than sixfold.

Travelers said the spring scenery more than made up for the crowds. According to Qunar, the most searched-for domestic destinations for flower-viewing and mountain scenery were the Slender West Lake scenic area in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, Huangshan Mountain in Anhui, Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, the Huangling scenic area in Jiangxi province and Yuantouzhu in Wuxi, Jiangsu.

Luo Binyixuan, a student from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, spent five days and four nights in Suzhou during the break.

Suzhou was incredibly beautiful, even though many places were too crowded to enter, she said, adding that, as the old town district has a rule that buildings cannot exceed six floors, an ancient, poetic atmosphere has been preserved.

"The gardens were full of blooming flowers — magnolias, crab apple blossoms and hydrangeas — and the new green leaves made everything feel so alive. I took so many photos."

Zhao Zhe, an office worker from Tongling, Anhui, opted for a day trip to Fenghuang Mountain in the city with three classmates. The transportation was convenient and not too crowded, and the experience was very pleasant, she said.

"There was no rain during this year's Qingming Festival — just a bright, sunny day," Zhao said. "Walking among the trees and flowers gave me a sense of inner peace. I think that, as cities become more urbanized, people increasingly crave that kind of natural, healing environment."

zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn