Travelers arrive at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in east China's Shanghai, Feb. 16, 2024. China witnessed an increase of passenger trips as this year's Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

China's chunyun for 2024 - the Spring Festival travel rush - will officially conclude on Tuesday. An estimated 9 billion passenger trips are expected to have been made during the 40-day rush, with bustling scenes seen across China from busy markets to hustling railway activity, which are vivid displays of economic vitality.

The consumption boom during the Spring Festival holidays coupled with thriving trade cooperation represented by the uninterrupted China-Europe freight train services will significantly contribute to the country's steady economic growth in the first quarter of 2024, with sustained momentum for the rest of the year, observers said.

On Sunday alone, 182.45 million trips were made, up 14.4 percent year-on-year and up 4.5 percent compared with the same period in 2019, official data showed. During the first 33 days of the holiday, 7.02 billion trips were made, and cargo transportation remained efficient and orderly, Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng told a press conference on February 28.



The strong consumption rebound during the holidays promoted the revival of involved industries and will significantly support GDP growth for the first quarter, Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Wang said that booming holiday consumption has laid a solid foundation for driving up the economy's development for the whole year while boosting market confidence.

The spending power on display during the holidays is still a major potential growth point for continued economic development, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.

Both Wang and Cong highlighted the growing demand for consumption upgrading as Chinese consumers now pursue high-quality products with elevated services and experiences and are relatively less price sensitive.

The upgrading demand will inspire market players to ramp up product and service quality for sustained operations in the long term.

Analysts pointed to the integration of the cultural, sports and tourism sectors as another new engine for propelling holiday consumption, on top of the already booming domestic and international tourism.

From diverse Spring Festival celebrations combining China's intangible cultural heritage with local attractions to the 14th National Winter Games boosting ice-snow consumption, the integration of the cultural, sports and tourism sectors led to fruitful and innovative results during the holidays, Jiang Yiyi, a deputy head of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sport University, said on Monday.

During the eight-day Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, 474 million domestic trips were made, up 34.3 percent year-on-year, and the total domestic tourism spending jumped by 47.3 percent year-on-year to about 632.69 billion yuan ($87.88 billion), according to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Jiang attributed the continuous expansion in tourism to rising outbound tourism, and China's strengthened efforts and stepped-up policy support underscored the country's firm determination to promote high-quality opening-up.

In a latest move, the mutual visa-exemption agreement between China and Thailand officially took effect on Friday, with bookings for two-way travel surging on the same day.

"China retains its strength as a major global market with huge spending power. Achieving success in the Chinese market first will be the foundation for foreign players to claim global success," Cong said, adding that the Chinese market has stepped up its competitiveness.

International cargo trade during the holidays thrive. For instance, customs at Manzhouli Port in Inner Mongolia inspected and cleared 94 China-Europe freight trains entering and exiting the border, up 17.5 percent from the Spring Festival holidays in 2023.

A China-Europe Express Railway cargo train departs from Horgos, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Malaszewicze, Poland, on February 12, 2024. Photo: VCG

In 2023, some 17,000 China-Europe freight trains were dispatched, up 6 percent year-on-year, carrying 1.9 million containers, up 18 percent, Liu Ruiling, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said during an interview ahead of the opening of the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee in Beijing.

"More than 85,000 China-Europe cargo trains ran as of February this year, linking China with 217 cities and 25 countries in Europe," said Liu, who is also the general manager of the International Land Port in North China's Hebei Province.

Wang said that China would actively engage in more international economic cooperation and competition and diversify its cooperation partners, while consolidating international cooperation in emerging and innovative industries such as green finance.