Preliminary booking data from major online-travel agencies reveal that Chinese holiday-makers favoured short-to-medium-distance trips during the 2026 New-Year break. According to Travel & Tour World, total inter-regional passenger journeys on 1 January reached 208 million—up 21 percent year-on-year—with rail travel jumping 65 percent.
Industry observers attribute the trend to a growing appetite for “emotional tourism,” where travellers seek experiences that resonate culturally—such as museum visits, concerts and local cuisine—rather than traditional sightseeing. The pattern is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, who are opting for weekend-length trips to nearby provincial capitals instead of long-haul excursions.
From a mobility-management perspective, the surge in short-haul traffic opens opportunities for duty-of-care optimisation. Shorter trip durations reduce exposure to health and safety risks, but the high frequency of movement increases the need for granular tracking and real-time communication. Companies with dispersed sales or maintenance teams should review their domestic-travel policies to ensure employees are booking rail over air where feasible, both for cost savings and lower carbon emissions.
![Short-Distance Getaways Dominate China’s New-Year Tourism Boom]()
For organisations whose quick domestic hops occasionally extend to neighbouring jurisdictions—say a fast meeting in Hong Kong or Macau—VisaHQ’s streamlined platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can eliminate the paperwork pain by aggregating visa requirements, deadline alerts and courier services in one dashboard. Mobility managers gain a clearer overview of compliance while travellers spend less time wrestling with consulate forms and more time focusing on the business at hand.
Hoteliers in second-tier cities such as Hangzhou and Xi’an are reporting occupancy rates above 90 percent, suggesting that corporate travellers may encounter tight room supply through the first quarter. Early-year project kick-offs should therefore lock in accommodation blocks well in advance.
The China Tourism Academy expects domestic trips to grow another 8–10 percent over the upcoming Spring Festival period, reinforcing the shift toward frequent, shorter journeys within a 300-kilometre radius.
Industry observers attribute the trend to a growing appetite for “emotional tourism,” where travellers seek experiences that resonate culturally—such as museum visits, concerts and local cuisine—rather than traditional sightseeing. The pattern is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, who are opting for weekend-length trips to nearby provincial capitals instead of long-haul excursions.
From a mobility-management perspective, the surge in short-haul traffic opens opportunities for duty-of-care optimisation. Shorter trip durations reduce exposure to health and safety risks, but the high frequency of movement increases the need for granular tracking and real-time communication. Companies with dispersed sales or maintenance teams should review their domestic-travel policies to ensure employees are booking rail over air where feasible, both for cost savings and lower carbon emissions.
For organisations whose quick domestic hops occasionally extend to neighbouring jurisdictions—say a fast meeting in Hong Kong or Macau—VisaHQ’s streamlined platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can eliminate the paperwork pain by aggregating visa requirements, deadline alerts and courier services in one dashboard. Mobility managers gain a clearer overview of compliance while travellers spend less time wrestling with consulate forms and more time focusing on the business at hand.
Hoteliers in second-tier cities such as Hangzhou and Xi’an are reporting occupancy rates above 90 percent, suggesting that corporate travellers may encounter tight room supply through the first quarter. Early-year project kick-offs should therefore lock in accommodation blocks well in advance.
The China Tourism Academy expects domestic trips to grow another 8–10 percent over the upcoming Spring Festival period, reinforcing the shift toward frequent, shorter journeys within a 300-kilometre radius.
