China Sees Record Daily Passenger Flow During Spring Festival Travel Season
According to data released by China’s Ministry of Transport, China’s Spring Festival travel season reached a historic peak on February 20, with daily inter-regional passenger travel exceeding 352 million. On February 20, the 19th day of the 2026 Spring Festival travel season, inter-regional passenger traffic reached a remarkable 352.999 million journeys. This figure represents a new record, a 12.3% increase compared to the same day of the 2025 Spring Festival travel season.
China’s railways carried 121 million passengers during the nine-day Spring Festival holiday from February 15-23. This averaged approximately 13.41 million passengers per day, representing an 11.5% increase compared to the same Spring Festival travel period last year.
Flights to Spain, Canada, Thailand, and Russia dominated during the Spring Festival
According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country’s civil aviation sector carried a total of 22.05 million passengers during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday. A total of 171,000 flights were operated, with an average of 18,956 flights per day.
In international and regional flight routes, the five routes with the highest average passenger load factor were Shanghai Pudong-Barcelona, Shanghai Pudong-Toronto, Taiyuan-Kunming-Bangkok, Shanghai Pudong-Vancouver, and Shanghai Pudong-St. Petersburg, respectively.
Visitors from mainland China to Hong Kong increased by 13 percent year-on-year between February 16-21, reaching 1.02 million.
China’s Spring Festival Box Office Reaches 5.75 Billion Yuan
The Spring Festival holiday is one of the most important periods in the world’s second-largest film market. During the nine-day Spring Festival holiday, which ended on Monday, China’s box office revenue totaled 5.75 billion yuan ($828.65 million), with a total audience of 120 million. This accounts for almost a fifth of China’s annual box office revenue for 2024 and 2025. For the past three years, the most-watched film of the season has become the overall box office champion of the year.
“Pegasus 3,” the third film in director Han Han’s racing comedy series starring Shen Teng, was the highest-grossing film of the holiday box office season with 2.93 billion yuan in ticket sales.
The contemporary spy thriller “Scare Out,” directed by Zhang Yimou, came in second with 868 million yuan. The film focuses on the leaking of classified military aviation data and marks Zhang’s fourth Spring Festival film in five years.
“Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert,” directed by legendary action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, came in third with 806 million yuan, while another film in the animated series, “Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector,” took fourth place with 714 million yuan.
Source: Global Times and China Daily
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