China prepares for Year of the Dragon, expected to record 9 billion tourists

Hong Kong
CNN
—

Travel across China has increased in recent days, with millions of people boarding trains and planes and braving busy roads, marking a record number of trips around Lunar New Year on Saturday. Officials estimate that it will be 9 billion times.

Train stations, airports and highways have been jammed with travelers carrying suitcases, food and gifts for their families in recent days as the weeks-long “Chun Lun” or Lunar New Year travel rush period that began late last month is in full swing. Was.

Many of the “Spring Luck” trips involve workers leaving China’s prosperous big cities to celebrate with family and friends in small and medium-sized cities, towns, and cities during an often extended eight-day holiday. , they can be seen crossing rural areas and returning to their hometowns.

For many, this year, the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, marks the return to normal travel for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s strict coronavirus regulations have restricted the movement of people across the country since 2020. Last year’s holiday took place just weeks after those measures were lifted, but just coincided with a wave of infections that complicated travel.

This came despite blizzards and freezing rain in parts of eastern and central China earlier this week, severely disrupting flight and rail schedules and leaving motorists stranded on snowy highways for hours. This year, travelers were determined to return to see their loved ones.

“The Spring Festival is an important festival for Chinese people…people want to go home to see their families and have family reunions,” said Luo, a worker in Beijing as he waited to board the 11-hour train to his hometown. told CNN. It happened during one of those storms in southern Fujian province earlier this week.

Travel was expected to increase significantly this year. Last month, authorities predicted that China’s 1.4 billion people would make a record 9 billion trips during the 40-day holiday travel period that began on January 26.

Preliminary data released this week suggested the boom was in full swing.

Official data showed travelers took 2.2 million trips by plane and 12.9 million by train on Tuesday, three days before Lunar New Year, when families usually gather for traditional reunion meals.

Both represent significant increases compared to pre-pandemic travel, with air flights up 17% and rail rides up 23% compared to comparable travel dates in 2019, transportation officials said. More than 232 million trips were made that day overall, with similar numbers recorded on Wednesday and Thursday.

Local data also showed an increase. The number of passengers at Shanghai’s main railway stations was expected to be around 475,000 on Friday, an increase of more than 61% from 2019, according to Shanghai-based state media The Paper.

Citing a civil aviation publication, the media reported that the number of domestic flights in the first week of the travel rush increased by about 15% compared to the same period in 2019.

HSBC economists said in a note Thursday that strong travel could lead to “even stronger consumer demand during the holidays.”

But the country also celebrates the holiday amid heightened uncertainty over its economic future due to the past year’s real estate market crisis, stock market crash, weak exports and high youth unemployment. .

Stock market turmoil cast a shadow over the weeks leading up to the holidays. Two major indexes posted their worst declines in years, capping a disastrous 2023 with China’s stock market the world’s worst performer.

The government is desperately trying to restore public and investor confidence.

Desperate investors flocked to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing’s page on Chinese social media platform Weibo earlier this month to vent their frustrations and concerns, as anger grows over the disappearance of trillions of dollars in stocks in recent years. The Chinese government on Wednesday dismissed its main stock market regulator. About what’s to come.

Ahead of the holiday, China’s main state media featured a speech given by leader Xi Jinping at a political conference on Thursday, calling on the “Chinese people” to “move forward” over the Lunar New Year.

“If we continue on our path, remain determined, consistent and work together, we can overcome all adversity and obstacles and continue to move towards success,” Xi said, according to state media. ” he said.