Under canopies of delicate pink blossoms, Yuyuantan Park in Beijing has transformed into a scene of springtime reverie, making it a must-visit attraction for many tourists. Lily Zheng, a college student studying in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in central China, visited Beijing with her friends during the Qingming Festival holiday on April 4-6. The park, with its ongoing Cherry Blossom Cultural Event, was one of their destinations.
“We were attracted to the park by photos of cherry blossoms on social media platforms,” Zheng told Beijing Review. In the park, many visitors pose for photos with the floral head wreaths bought there, and enjoy flower-shaped ice creams.
Travel and consumption increased throughout the country during the holiday. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 126 million domestic trips were made across the country over the period, a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent, while the total expenditure on domestic travel reached 57.55 billion yuan ($8.82 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent.
Travel trends
During the three-day holiday, numerous people participated in ancient rituals, cleaning tombs and graves and paying tribute to their deceased family members and ancestors. Many also opted for short holidays and cross-border travel.
According to the Ministry of Transport, travelers made about 790 million inter-regional domestic trips during the holiday—an average of 264 million trips per day, up 7.1 percent from the same period last year.
The number of orders for tours of nearby regions increased by 136 percent, with 44 percent choosing to travel by car, according to Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel agency.
As April is a low season for international travel and airfares and hotel prices are more affordable, many Chinese tourists chose to visit neighboring countries such as the Republic of Korea and Southeast Asian countries.
Also, early April is a good time to see cherry blossoms in Japan. Data from Trip.com Group showed that Chinese tourists’ hotel bookings in Osaka and Tokyo in Japan rose by 78 percent and 44 percent, respectively, during the three days.
Spring economy
The vibrant days of spring have invigorated public enthusiasm for seasonal activities like flower viewing, countryside excursions and camping, fueling a noticeable upswing in springtime economic activity.
Data from Qunar, a leading online travel platform based in Beijing, reveals that searches for blossom-themed destinations during the holiday more than doubled compared with the corresponding period in 2024. Popular floral destinations such as Kunming in Yunnan Province reported a 30-percent year-on-year increase in hotel reservations.
Outdoor recreation has similarly gained traction, with marathons, camping and hiking adventures attracting increasing participation. Haidilao, a renowned Chinese hotpot chain, has launched camping-themed outlets in many cities. The stores attracted crowds of diners eager to savor hotpot in a distinctive outdoor camping setting. At its location within a campsite in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, all seats had been fully booked a week in advance of the Qingming Festival holiday. The outlet’s weekend revenue recently soared to three times the usual amount.
Urban residents also seek springtime getaways in mountainous and rural areas. Anji County in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, has emerged as a particularly sought-after destination. With a population of just 600,000, the county is renowned for its natural beauty and thriving coffee shops, featuring over 300 cafés. It hosted more than 600,000 visitors during the holiday, a 73.6-percent year-on-year increase, generating tourism revenue of 820 million yuan ($111 million).
One standout attraction was Deep Blue Café in Hongmiao Village, which sells up to 8,000 cups of coffee per day during peak seasons. The café’s popularity is enhanced by its idyllic lakeside setting—a former mining pit transformed into a scenic spot, where mineral-infused waters shimmer in striking shades of blue, creating a unique backdrop for visitors.
“During this year’s Qingming Festival holiday, many tourists from neighboring cities came to Deep Blue Café to enjoy coffee and camping beside the lake,” its founder Cheng Shuoqin told Beijing Review.
“Chinese consumers are increasingly embracing experiential consumption, transforming innovative and immersive retail experiences into powerful catalysts for both market growth and elevated lifestyles,” Li Gang, an official from China’s Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference on March 25.
Looking ahead, China’s consumer market remains resilient, and will keep recovering and growing, Li said. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
