Long Spring Festival holiday boosts dual circulation

People shop for festive decorations at a mall in Beijing, China, January 31, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]

By Liu Chunsheng

The 2026 Spring Festival celebrating the Year of the Horse, bolstered by a nine-day holiday, the longest ever, and the expanding visa-free policy, delivered a stellar performance for the economy.

Data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on February 24 showed that during the holiday, domestic tourist trips nationwide reached 596 million, up 95 million from the eight-day Spring Festival holiday in 2025. Total domestic tourism spending amounted to 803.5 billion yuan (about $115.8 billion), an increase of 126.5 billion yuan ($18.4 billion) compared with last year.

These dynamic figures not only show a vibrant consumer market but also underscore the strong resilience and endogenous driving force of China's economy. As the "opening victory" of the annual economy, the robust performance of this year's Spring Festival economy has laid a solid foundation for China's high-quality economic development in 2026, reflecting the profound transformation of domestic consumption upgrading and international two-way flow.

Experiential consumption, core engine of holiday economy

The all-round prosperity of the consumer market is the most distinctive feature of this year's Spring Festival economy. The explosive growth of experiential consumption marks the accelerated transformation of China's consumption structure from physical to service-oriented.

Big data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) shows that ice-snow tourism consumption on the first day of the holiday increased by 1.2 times. Harbin Ice-Snow World, the world's largest annual winter theme park located in Heilongjiang, northeast China, was one of the most popular scenic spots nationwide. In the south, the tropical island of Hainan recorded over 12 million tourists during the holiday, the first Spring Festival since the island's customs closure operations, marked by longer stays and upgraded consumption.

The sustained boom in the film market has become a reliable barometer of Spring Festival consumption. The China Film Administration announced on February 24 that the box-office revenue for the 2026 Spring Festival holiday was 5.75 billion yuan ($840 million), with total admissions hitting 120 million. Notably, third- and fourth-tier cities have been the absolute main force of the Spring Festival box office for three consecutive years.

Emerging models like "movie + market" and "movie + cultural tourism" have further broken down industrial boundaries, converting on-screen popularity into physical consumption momentum and demonstrating the huge potential of integrated development between cultural consumption and the real economy.

The upgrading trend in New Year shopping is equally evident. MOFCOM data shows that during the first two days of the holiday, the average daily sales of key national retail and catering enterprises increased by 10.6%, compared with the same period last Spring Festival, with strong demand for green, smart and health-related products.

The trade-in policy continued to release dividends, benefiting 28.88 million people and driving sales of 198.02 billion yuan ($28.9 billion) by February 19. Consumption vouchers and subsidies issued by various regions acted as a catalyst, igniting consumer enthusiasm, effectively translating policy dividends into market vitality.

Russian student Aleksandra Antonenko takes a short video at a traditional crafts booth in the Yuyuan Garden shopping mall in Shanghai, China, February 6, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]

Cultural exchange and economic win-win

The combined effect of the longest-ever Spring Festival holiday and visa-free policies has fully activated the cross-border tourism market, injecting a robust China momentum into global tourism recovery. The continuous expansion of visa-free policies has enabled Chinese tourists to realize their dream of traveling on a whim.

By the beginning of 2026, China's unilateral visa-free countries expanded to 48, mutual visa exemption arrangements reached 29, and the 240-hour transit visa-free policy covered 55 countries.Policy dividends have directly driven a surge in popularity for newly added visa-free destinations such as Russia and Türkiye.

The outbound travel surge of Chinese tourists is profoundly reshaping the global tourism economic landscape. In Southeast Asia, traditional hot destinations like Thailand and Malaysia remain popular. In Europe, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympicshas driven a significant year-on-year increase in popularity along Italy's southern coastline. Chinese tourists not only bring substantial consumer income but also drive the upgrading of local tourism infrastructure and service quality.

Two-way travel in cross-border tourism was another highlight of this year's Spring Festival economy, demonstrating China's international cultural appeal and its broad-mindedness in opening up.

As cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world deepen, "celebrating the Spring Festival in China" has become a global fashion. Platform data show that air ticket bookings for inbound tourism surged 312 percent year on yearin the first five days of the holiday. The inclusion of the UK and Canada in China's visa-free list starting February 17 has further stimulated the enthusiasm of European and North American tourists to visit China.

Upgraded digital services have optimized the inbound tourism experience. The expansion of multilingual digital maps and mobile payment pilots enables foreign tourists to travel and consume in China as conveniently as locals. The in-depth integration of culture and tourism not only helps the world to better understand China but also lays the foundation for the long-term development of China's inbound tourism market.

Setting the tone for China's 2026 growth

The outstanding performance of the 2026 Spring Festival economy is the result of the resonance between policy guidance, market supply and consumer demand. With in-depth implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand, continuous policies for consumption promotion and continuous improvement of the level of opening-up, China's economy indicates it will maintain steady and healthy development in 2026.

In the journey of the Year of the Horse, it will gallop, advancing steadily on the path of high-quality development with strong resilience and vibrant vitality, and contributing more China strength to the recovery and growth of the world economy.

Liu Chunsheng, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics.