Foreign tourists take pictures at Badaling section of the Great Wall in Beijing, capital of China, on June 3, 2025. Photo: VCG
Multiple Chinese government agencies from transport to tourism sectors released latest data on Tuesday highlighting surges in travel consumption during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
The positive growth trend during the just concluded holiday serves as an indication of a consumption recovery in the travel sector, an important part of the nation’s overall consumption, as the market responds to supportive policies, including improved travel services and an expanded unilateral visa-free policy for foreign visitors, a Chinese industry analyst said.
Positive trend
China’s transport sector handled 653.7 million inter-regional trips nationwide during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday from Saturday to Monday, averaging 217.9 million trips per day, or a 2.5 percent increase year-on-year, according to the latest data released by China’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Tuesday.
The growth in travel sector is highlighted across various transportation channels. Of these trips, railway passenger traffic reached 48.03 million, averaging 16.01 million passengers per day, up 4.3 percent year-on-year. Highway traffic totaled 597.32 million trips, averaging 199.11 million per day, a 2.4 percent increase. Air travel saw 5.63 million trips, with a daily average of 1.88 million, rising 1.7 percent year-on-year, according to the MOT.
On the same day, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) estimated that 119 million domestic trips were made over the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 percent. Total domestic tourism spending reached 42.73 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent from the same period last year, said the MCT.
Local travel figures released on Tuesday echoed the country’s broader trend of growth in the tourism industry.
During the holiday, Beijing received 8.21 million tourist visits, up 5.4 percent year-on-year, with total tourism spending reaching 10.77 billion yuan, a 6.7 percent increase, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
Shanghai received a total of 6.48 million tourist visits over the holiday. Comprehensive tourism-related spending in the city – including food, accommodation, transportation activities – was estimated at 12.477 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 percent.
Central China’s Henan Province, an important tourism destination known for its rich historical heritage, recorded positive growth in the sector. According to the Department of Culture and Tourism of Henan Province, the province welcomed 15.12 million visitors during the holiday, a year-on-year rise of 4.7 percent. Tourism revenue totaled 6.79 billion yuan, up 5.3 percent, marking both a quantitative and qualitative improvement in Henan’s cultural and tourism market, said the provincial government department.
The positive travel data from the Dragon Boat Festival holiday shows China’s consumption potential is gradually being unlocked, serving as an encouraging signal for the country’s consumption pick-up, Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
This increase in holiday consumption can be attributed to several factors, including the overlap between the Dragon Boat Festival and International Children’s Day on June 1, which Zhang said “created a synergistic effect and drove up family travel demand.”
New momentum
Among all the travel highlights during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the figures for the nation’s inbound and outbound travel are particularly notable, as international trips gain traction among Chinese consumers and a growing number of foreign visitors choose China as their destination, thanks to the visa-free policies.
According to the National Immigration Administration (NIA) on Tuesday, China recorded nearly 5.91 million cross-border trips during the three-day holiday, which concluded on Monday, marking a 2.7 percent increase year-on-year.
A significant rise was seen in foreign arrivals benefiting from China’s visa-free policies. A total of 231,000 foreign nationals entered the country visa-free during the holiday, marking a 59.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to the NIA.
“The significance of this holiday travel data lies in the broad role that cultural and tourism activities play in overall consumption … Tourism stimulates a wide range of sectors, including transportation, accommodation, and dining, and contributes significantly to broader consumer spending,” Zhang said, noting that inbound and outbound travel inject new impetus into the travel sector.
Data released by the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, on Tuesday show that during the just-ended holiday, UnionPay and NetsUnion processed a total of 14.05 billion payment transactions, amounting to 4.8 trillion yuan — a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent. Notably, the value of payment transactions made by overseas visitors to China rose by 58.8 percent compared to the same period last year, the central bank said.
The growth in travel consumption during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday reflects a positive boost to overall consumer demand in which travel takes an important part, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The rise in consumption has been supported by a series of policies and coordinated efforts across multiple sectors, Li said. For example, the government has made ongoing efforts to improve the travel experience for foreign visitors, most notably through unilateral visa free policies, and to enhance the overall cultural and tourism service and environment, said the expert, noting that “as seen during the just-concluded holiday, these measures are already beginning to show results.”
Speaking at a regular press conference on Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian also mentioned that starting on June 1, China’s unilateral visa-free program is for the first time extended to Latin American and Caribbean countries, raising the number of countries given unilateral visa-free entry to China to 43.
The growing “visa-free list” shows China’s firm resolve in expanding high-level opening up. The various measures China has taken to ease cross-border travel are all part of China’s concrete action to create an open global economy. Adding to the proof, in the first quarter of this year, China received over 9 million visits by foreigners, up by over 40 percent year-on-year, Lin said.
While the consumption recovery is gaining pace in the travel sector, more work remains to be done for a full rebound of the overall consumption, especially amid lingering external challenges such as the rising trend of protectionism, disrupting economic and trade activities, experts said.
To further tap into the potential of the consumption recovery, more targeted policy support is needed, according to Li. “For example, efforts such as improving household income, enhancing the quality of consumer services, and promoting greater convenience in consumption still need to be further advanced,” the expert said.
Moreover, stepped-up measures to encourage trade-ins of old consumer goods are expected to provide stronger momentum for the sustained recovery of consumer spending, Li added.
