As China braces for an expected 9.5 billion journeys across a longer-than-usual Lunar New Year break, destinations across Asia are looking forward to a bump in tourist arrivals.
Officially, the holiday is from 15 February to 23 February 2026, but spreads over a 40-day period. China’s 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.
Domestic leisure demand is reported to be strong despite prevailing financial uncertainty, with consumers spending on experiences, McKinsey says, as well as both snowy and warm destinations. Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager at Shanghai-based Spring Tour, said the tropical island of Hainan and the northeastern Changbai Mountain are popular choices this year.
The Spring Festival’s role in the international market is growing thanks to boosts in connectivity and seat capacity, with a nine percent increase in international seat capacity year-on-year, according to aviation intelligence firm IBA.
Thailand is one of the beneficiaries and is the “top outbound destination thanks to its weather, when most parts of China remain cold,” Zhou told Reuters. That is a reversal since last year, when foreign arrivals to Thailand fell by seven percent largely as a result of Chinese tourists staying away due to scam scares. Thailand has since invested in its image, with its tourism agency holding Lunar New Year celebrations across the country in a bid to win back Chinese visitors.
Meanwhile, Russian bookings have more than doubled since 2025 and are looking strong into the rest of the year, driven by eased visa arrangements for Chinese passport holders, said Sienna Parulis-Cook, marketing and communications director of Dragon Trail Research. Northern Europe has seen similar success, and Australia too is emerging as a sought-after destination, with reservations up by more than 100% year-on-year.
Japan, however, once up in the Trip.com top spot for Chinese arrivals alongside rival Thailand, is losing out. Chinese visitors, formerly attracted by the weak yen and famed Japanese welcome, have abandoned Japan amid ongoing strained relations. China has gone as far as issuing travel safety alerts for Japan to its citizens. That has had a knock-on effect on Japanese flight schedules, with the loss of 58 routes since the 2025 Spring Festival. Flights between China and Japan were down 49.2% from a year earlier, according to travel data provider Flight Master.
In terms of traffic to China, inbound flight bookings in the past two weeks (to 10 February 2026) have “surged by more than 400 percent year-on-year,” encouraged by a global suite of visa-free and transit-visa arrangements.
