Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations are nearly here, and with them, hundreds of millions of journeys are expected on the roads, by rail, and in the air. A record 9.5 billion trips could be made over the 40-day holiday period, according to Chinese government estimates.
Lunar New Year falls between the end of January and over February in the Gregorian calendar and is a major festival period celebrated in many Asian countries, having spread through trade, cultural influence, and warfare through China, Korea, and Vietnam. It is sometimes called the Spring Festival or Chūnjié, in Vietnam it is known as Tết, while in Korea it is Seollal. It signals the beginning of a new lunisolar calendar year and is marked by visits to family and friends, fireworks, food, parades, and parties.
Extended for the first time to nine days in a bid to boost the domestic economy, the Chinese New Year is officially from 15 February to 23 February 2026 but spreads over a 40-day period. The National Development and Reform Commission says 540 million journeys will be made by train, plus 95 million by plane, leaving a whopping 8.8 billion trips on the roads—the largest movement of people in the world.
The holiday is held up by many as a measure of the Chinese economy, and the Associated Press has reported domestic Chinese holidaymakers complaining about the cost of living and transport this year, and taking cheaper transport options. But it also cites others who say the New Year continues to represent an important opportunity for a break from work spent with loved ones.
Chinese New Year’s listing among UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage has helped to provide the cultural framework, China Daily says, attracting an inbound visitor market that the outlet positions as evidence of China’s growing soft power. It reports that inbound flight bookings to China in the past two weeks (to 10 February 2026) have “surged by more than 400 percent year-on-year.” Encouraged by visa-free and transit-visa arrangements, and with business travellers drawn by technological innovation, foreign visits were up 26% in 2025. China Daily argues this is part of a “reinforcing loop: openness invites visitors; visitors observe functioning systems; observation reshapes perceptions; perceptions generate further engagement.”
Ensuring that transit and transport systems work well during this busy period, then, is part of how China showcases itself. In 2025, China Railway offered additional trains and fast night services that combined to provide more than 14,000 passenger trains over the season, boosting capacity by four percent, or half a million seat places.
In the air, flag-carrier Air China has said it is operating over 70,000 flights during the festival window, a 10% increase on 2025. As well as Air China, others such as China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Loong Air, Spring Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines will boost schedules. Connecting airports will be handling extra flights, such as Singapore’s Changi, where 600 supplementary flights to as many as 15 Chinese cities will operate, more than double the extra flights laid on in the 2025 season.
Meanwhile, on the ground at transport hubs, AI customer service robots, e-reservations and invoicing systems, and language translation devices all feature among the tech innovations helping to ensure the season runs smoothly—weather permitting. In 2024, China was hit by some of the worst winter Lunar New Year weather since 2008, with central provinces suffering freezing conditions that blocked highways and left travellers stranded in trains and railway stations. The meteorological service will be working closely with authorities to ensure contingencies are in place in 2026.
