China's Spring Festival, the country's most cherished holiday for family reunions, is increasingly becoming a magnet for international visitors, with international flight bookings rising sharply.
As a cultural powerhouse in its own right, the Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, with its rich traditions and immersive experiences, is cementing China's status as a must-visit global destination.
China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) forecasts that the average daily number of inbound and outbound travelers nationwide will surpass 2.05 million during the Spring Festival holiday, up 14.1 percent year on year.
Driven by the country's visa-free policy and consumption-incentive measures, both inbound and outbound tourism is expected to grow during the nine-day holiday period beginning Sunday, the NIA said.
At the Beijing International Airport, the arriving visitors shared their excitement about discovering China's diverse landscapes and hospitality.
"I'm here for almost 6 months, so I will go to almost every province if possible. Hopefully I [can go] to Xi'an, of course, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Shanghai, maybe other places as well," said a tourist from Germany.
"I go to Hainan because everybody that travels in China should be there at least once, right? And also the seafood is very famous," said a tourist from South America.
Data from Fliggy, a leading online travel platform shows that over the past two weeks, flight bookings by international travelers for the Spring Festival period have quadrupled compared to last year. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Chengdu top the list of the most popular first-entry cities.
"I think it's pretty cool. It's totally different from like Europe or anything else I've ever seen. I haven't seen enough, to be honest, but I do love the food, I do love the culture. I think you guys are very united and there's a big community in China for sure. I definitely have to travel back and like get to know it better and see other cities, which I'm very excited about," said a tourist from Switzerland fresh from a trip in Beijing.
China sees surge in Int'l arrival during Spring Festival as global travelers embrace cultural festivities
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
