According to the Financial Association, on December 25 (Reporter Hu Haoqiong), as New Year's Day approaches, the tourism market is focused on short trips, while some tourists are combining their vacations for long trips.

Spring and Autumn Travel has stated that the number of bookings for trips on New Year's Day has exceeded that of last year. Domestic travel has seen a year-on-year increase of nearly 20%. The travel time for 'combination vacations' is concentrated around December 28, 2024, with durations of 5 to 9 days. Popular domestic destinations include Changbai Mountain Tourism, Lijiang, Shantou, Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Hengyang, Chengdu, Lanzhou, and others.

From the data of OTA platforms, personnel from the TONGCHENGTRAVEL Research Institute mentioned to Financial Association reporters that the New Year's Day holiday coincides with the peak season for ice and snow tourism, leading to a surge in bookings for civil aviation 'ice and snow routes'. The average ticket price from major southern cities to Harbin has risen nearly 30% compared to December's non-holiday prices and has increased by nearly 20% year-on-year.

Data from the airline travel vertical indicates that as of December 24, the number of domestic route flight bookings from December 28 to January 5 has exceeded 6.54 million, reflecting a year-on-year increase of about 7%. The number of inbound and outbound flight bookings has surpassed 1.84 million, a year-on-year increase of about 48%.

The booking for long-haul outbound travel products for the Spring Festival has essentially ended, while short-haul, visa-free, and domestic destination products are still open for bookings. Among them, Spain and Portugal routes are performing well due to their high value during the Spring Festival, according to Li Mengran, media relations manager at UTour Group (002707.SZ), who stated that tourists' travel trend of going both 'south and north' remains very evident.

In addition, Financial Association reporters learned that as of now, the number of outbound travel bookings for Spring and Autumn Travel has increased by about 100% year-on-year. Guangzhou Lingnan Group Holdings (000524.SZ) reported that bookings for the United Kingdom, as well as Eastern and Northern European countries, have begun to close, while itineraries to Central Western Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and some Middle Eastern and African countries are expected to close for bookings in early January. It is anticipated that about 80% of domestic travel product prices will decline by 10% to 40% during this winter vacation (including the Spring Festival).

Notably, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi disclosed at the ministerial 'Japan-China High-Level Cultural Exchange Consultation Mechanism' meeting that the conditions for issuing travel visas to China for tourism will be relaxed, expected to be implemented in the spring of 2025 once preparations are complete.

However, industry insiders told reporters from the Financial Association that due to the unclear implementation time of this policy, the measure will not temporarily affect the Spring Festival travel market.

Data from Qunar shows that on December 25, the search Index for flights to Tokyo and Osaka increased by 20% compared to the previous week, and during the Spring Festival period, ticket prices for flights to Tokyo, Japan decreased by 20% year-on-year, but are still higher than during the off-season.

Since December of this year, Airlines have frequently opened international routes to meet the travel demand for New Year's Day and the Spring Festival.

According to reporters from the Financial Association, Juneyao Airlines (603885.SH) has successively opened the Shanghai-Sydney intercontinental route and the Shanghai-Melbourne route since mid-December. Consequently, the supply capacity for round trips to Melbourne in the Chinese market has also surpassed the level of the same period in 2019. It is expected that Juneyao Airlines' international short-haul flights during the spring transportation period will increase by 45% year-on-year, with a 29% increase in seat availability.

China Eastern Airlines Corporation (600115.SH) has newly opened three international routes: Harbin-Kunming-Bangkok, Changchun-Yuncheng-Kuala Lumpur, and Changchun-Shanghai Pudong-Bangkok since mid-December. As of now, Eastern Airlines' flights to Southeast Asia have restored to 131.6% of their level in 2019.

In terms of domestic routes, during the spring transportation period of 2025, the overall trend for civil aviation domestic routes is "increased volume and decreased prices." Industry insiders told reporters from the Financial Association that the decline in ticket prices is primarily due to the recovery of capacity.

According to data provided by TONGCHENGTRAVEL, while ticket prices on major routes have slightly decreased compared to the same period last year, overall passenger traffic remains on the rise, and traffic for lodging in some popular destinations is expected to reach new highs.

TONGCHENGTRAVEL predicts that during the spring transportation period of 2025, ticket prices for major domestic routes will generally remain high, with the average ticket price expected to increase by more than 60% compared to the low traffic period before the spring transportation, and there are already signs of price increases for return tickets during the Spring Festival for some popular routes.

According to data from Flight Butler, as of December 23, 2025, the average economy class ticket price (excluding tax) on domestic routes during the Spring Festival travel rush has decreased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2024. The overall daily capacity (number of seats) during the Spring Festival travel rush is expected to be around 279.8 million, an increase of 17.8% compared to 2019 and an increase of 5.9% compared to the same period last year.