Outbound tourism emerges as main growth driver of consumer market during China’s Spring Festival Holiday

Against the backdrop of China’s inbound travel boom during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, many Chinese people opted for outbound trips to overseas destinations in pursuit of diversified, cross-cultural experiences for the traditional holiday, making outbound tourism as the main growth driver of the consumer market during the holiday.

During the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, outbound travel bookings saw a 30-percent increase compared to last year, according to a report from travel platform Ctrip.

Popular destinations included Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, the United States and Vietnam.

“During the Spring Festival travel rush, Beijing Capital International Airport handled 7.95 million passenger trips in total, around 200,000 trips and over 1,200 flights daily. With more visa-free destinations, lower travel costs, and new flight routes, more residents from smaller cities are choosing to spend the Chinese New Year abroad,” said Feng Liwei, operation manager of the Airport Operation Center at Beijing Capital International Airport.

As Chinese travelers gain more experiences with international trips, their choices have been expanded.

Ctrip’s international platform showed that car rental bookings for overseas travel during this year’s Spring Festival holiday jumped by 42 percent compared to last year. In addition, bookings for overseas chartered tours saw a 20-percent increase from the previous Spring Festival holiday.

“During this year’s Spring Festival holiday, border inspection agencies nationwide handled a total of 14.366 million border entries and exits, marking a 6.3-percent increase compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the number of foreign nationals entering and exiting was 958,000, showing a 22.9-percent increase,” said Jiang Shihui, director of the Border Control Management Department of the National Immigration Administration.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, is the most important public holiday in China. The official Spring Festival holiday season this year ran from Jan 28 to Feb 4.

A young skier’s passion for the sport was kindled by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision for snow sports, as he continues to strive for excellence in pursuit of his skiing aspirations.

Skiing, once seen as an elite sport exclusive to professionals and the well-trained, is now being embraced by the masses, thanks to the national push for winter sports and the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Between 2015 and 2022, Xi visited Olympic venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou five times, overseeing venue construction, management, and volunteer operations. During a 2021 inspection visit, he emphasized using the Winter Olympics as a catalyst to elevate the nation’s ice and snow sports culture.

Back in 2016, a curious Beijing boy named Liu Zhongyuan had an unexpected encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Zhangjiakou City’s Chongli District of north China’s Hebei Province.

In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Liu shared his skiing journey, which was inspired by a lighthearted comment made by President Xi.

Eight years ago, 10-year-old Liu Zhongyuan, a Beijing kid curious about skiing, happened to be there attending a ski camp in Chongli. Xi asked students if they wanted to participate in the Winter Olympics. The young boy was inspired by Xi and said that he can participate as a volunteer because making it to the men’s group in the Winter Olympics would pose a significant challenge.

It turned out that this time, Liu was not learning on the slope – he was the one leading the training, helping friends achieve mastery.

“They’re all members of my ski team. I’m their senior fellow apprentice. They are really young, but they have improved very quickly,” he said.

Not everyone who loves skiing possesses the ability to effectively teach the sport, as teaching requires a unique set of skills and knowledge beyond mere passion for the activity.

“Here is my occupational qualification certificate, you can see it proves that I am a coach, it’s a coaching certificate. I earned it on September the 23rd,” he said.

As a full-time high school student, he explained why the coaching certificate is important to him.

“My tutor told me that if you have a coaching certificate, it [will] help you [succeed] in your applications for the Winter Olympic Games,” he said.

In fact that lighthearted interaction with President Xi became more than just a memory.

From that day on, he has been working hard to become a Winter Olympics volunteer. One year before the Winter Olympics, he said in a speech in 2021 that to achieve his goal, he trained harder and incorporated volunteer work into his daily life, serving as a volunteer coach, safety instructor, and rescue team.

“Beforehand I was skiing for fun, it was only after meeting up with President Xi, I started a professional career in skiing,” he said.

Due to strict age requirements, disappointment was inevitable. However, his efforts never went unnoticed. He had poured his energy into preparing for the moment – training hard, learning English, and excelling in school – while inspiring others to take part.

Nowadays, Liu is once again guiding one of his trainees down the high level trails.

Liu’s grandfather said that with the growing number of ski resorts and the rise in people’s living standards, skiing, once considered an elite sport, is now being embraced by the masses.

“When I was young, I couldn’t even imagine this. Back then, ski resorts were only for professional athletes – ordinary people had no chance to participate. So, I feel very fortunate to be living in this era, able to enjoy the boom of winter sports at my age. I feel truly blessed,” said Liu’s grandfather.

The school-organized ski lessons have made skiing more accessible than ever before. As the Asian Winter Games has returned to China, Liu began chasing his dream once again.

“[For the Asian Winter Games,] I applied twice. It was months ago when I was 17. I’ve promised them that when I come into the field, I will be 18 already, but they still kind of refused me,” Liu said.

Despite narrowly missing out again, Liu is more motivated now. The eight years has led him to understand that the journey has never been just about a title – it’s about growth. It’s about giving back to the community and contributing in his own way.