Longer Holidays Highlight New Trends Among Chinese

The past Chinese New Year holiday has revealed new trends in how people in China are spending their leisure time. Let's take a look at the insights provided by analysts from CICC Research.

Love for long holidays

The first day of the record-long nine-day holiday began early to give people time to prepare. The Ministry of Commerce reported that retail sales rose 10.6 percent in the first two days on an annual basis, compared to 8.6 percent in the first four days and 4.1 percent for the holiday.

Making a longer holiday

An annual leave of five days can give working people a long 15-day holiday at a low cost. It made a remote or less crowded trip possible. The China Service Association and Tuniu.com reported that this year's holiday travel days averaged 5.9 days, up 1.1 days from last year. Trip.com reports that travelers born in the 1980s placed 48 percent of its orders after the holiday (February 24-28).

Retail sales growth during major holidays

Credit: CICC Research

Visa-free policy works well

Visa-free holidays are popular with foreign tourists visiting China. The National Immigration Administration expected entry-exit passengers at national ports to increase 14.1 percent year over year, and CCTV News reported a 312 percent increase in inbound tourism tickets sold in the first five days of the Spring Festival holiday.

Reverse family reunion

Traditionally, children visited parents in their hometown during Spring Festival. For a reverse family reunion, more parents traveled to large cities this year to visit their kids.

On flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, 18 percent of passengers were 50 or older, and the number of passengers 60 and older rose more than 10 percent year over year. There was even a wave of first-time flights among passengers over 60, with the relevant number increasing 20 percent year over year.