China’s immigration authority forecasts 2.1million passenger border crossings during upcoming Qingming holiday

Tourists view cherry blossoms at a cherry garden in Gui'an New Area, southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 25, 2025. Recently, the 10,000 mu of cherry trees in Gui'an New Area have been in full bloom, attracting many tourists to come and enjoy the spring time. Gui'an New Area has integrated flower appreciation economy with characteristic agriculture, study tour and other forms of business by taking advantage of good ecological resources, an effort to promote tourism development in the surrounding areas and help increase villagers' income. (Photo/Xinhua)

China is expected to handle a daily average of 2.1 million entry-exit passenger crossings during the upcoming Qingming Festival holiday ( from Friday to Sunday), up 21.4 percent from a year earlier, the National Immigration Administration said on Tuesday.

Entry-exit traffic at major international airports is seeing a modest rise, with the Beijing Capital International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport expected to handle daily passenger trips of 39,000 and 81,000, respectively.

Passenger crossings at land ports adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs) are expected to see rapid growth from the two SARs and the Taiwan island as well as overseas Chinese returning home for ancestral worship. Specifically, the daily average passenger crossings at the Zhuhai Gongbei Port and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge are expected to reach 367,000 and 123,000, respectively.

As the first major holiday following the Spring Festival, Qingming has spurred a spike in travel bookings.

According to a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday, ctrip.com said that, as of March 25, booking orders of short-term tours increased by 136 percent month-on-month, with cities like Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Jinan becoming the top three hottest travelling destinations.

Spring activities like flower viewing and hiking are in vogue. Flower tour bookings rose 55 percent month-on-month. Chinese cities to enjoy flowers including Wuxi and Huangshan Mountain see orders increase by 35 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared with a year earlier, while outbound destinations like Jeju Island of South Korea see bookings up 65 percent, and Kyoto increased by 75 percent, data from ctrip.com showed.

Another Chinese tourism platform Fliggy.com noted that the number of bookings for domestic car rental services during the Qingming holiday increased by 33 percent year-on-year, while the number of bookings for outbound train tickets surged by over 200 percent.

Shennongjia Forestry District in Hubei, Zhongwei in Ningxia, and Hami in Xinjiang saw the fastest growth of visitor bookings, thanks to scenic landscapes and convenient transport. Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore remain as the top outbound destinations, Fliggy.com said.