Domestic travel in China hit record highs both in 2025 and during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, Minister of Culture and Tourism Sun Yeli said on Saturday.
The minister made the statement in briefing news media on China's travel boom in the past year and this year's Spring Festival holiday running from Feb 15 to 23, at a press conference on people's livelihood on the sidelines of the fourth annual session of the 14th National People's Congress.
"This year's Spring Festival holiday saw a surge in China's culture and tourism market. During the nine-day holiday, the country recorded 596 million domestic tourist trips, with tourism spending surpassing 800 billion yuan (about 115.93 billion U.S. dollars), both setting new records," Sun said.
The travel surge during the Spring Festival holiday season was merely a snapshot, the minister said, adding that the past year witnessed thriving momentum across the culture and tourism sectors.
"Data show that the business revenue of enterprises above the designated size (those each with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more) in culture and related industries hit 15 trillion yuan in 2025, up 7.4 percent year on year, while their total profits reached 1.4 trillion yuan, up 6.5 percent year on year. In terms of tourism, domestic tourist trips by Chinese residents exceeded 6.5 billion, up more than 16 percent year on year, with tourism expenditure reaching 6.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.5 percent -- setting new records in both the volume and spending," Sun said.
The annual session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, opened on Thursday and is scheduled to run till March 12.
China's domestic travel hits record highs in 2025: official
The 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting will be held from May 22-23 in Suzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, with preliminary consultations and seminars kicking off on Monday.
Multiple consultations have commenced, including discussions on the joint statement to be issued at the meeting and ways to promote cooperation in digital trade.
Additionally, the "Big Market for All: Export to China" Suzhou special event and the Suzhou products promotion event opened Monday.
Experts emphasized that the minister's meeting will play a timely role in advancing regional economic integration and tackling emerging trade challenges through deeper cooperation in digital and green sectors.
"APEC is the highest-level and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region. On the 20th anniversary of the vision for a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the 2026 Suzhou APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting will play a positive role in safeguarding the multilateral trading system, stabilizing Asia-Pacific cooperation, and leading global open development, countering the increasingly intensifying wave of trade protectionism," said Yuan Qian, deputy director of the trade and investment research division of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, which is under the administration of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"At the same time, as a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerates, this meeting takes cooperation in emerging areas such as digital and green as important content, better aligning with the trend of global technological innovation and development, countering global economic growth pressures, and opening up new spaces for regional cooperation and development," the expert added.
Terms such as digital economy, electronic bills of lading, and green supply chains appear frequently in the agenda of the APEC trade ministers' meeting.
"Although electronic bills of lading may seem small, their impact on international trade is very critical. They can improve customs clearance efficiency and reduce customs clearance costs. If promoted, it will not only affect these developed economies and large traders, but more importantly, it will significantly enhance the ability of some small and medium-sized economies and some developing countries to participate in international trade and improve their trade efficiency," said Zhou Mi, deputy director of the Institute of American and Oceania, Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is under the administration of the Ministry of Commerce.
This year, a key topic of the meeting is the digital economy.
"In the past, people thought the digital economy was an option; now it has become a must. Because having advantages in digital economy development means having greater advantages in international trade. They (member economies) have seen some of China's practices and approaches in the digital economy field and hope to use such a platform to further improve their own technology and strengthen coordination with China," said Zhou.
Founded in 1989, the APEC is the highest-level, broadest and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region. About 700 representatives from 21 APEC economies and international organizations will gather in Jiangsu for the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting.
Preliminary consultations begin for APEC trade ministers' meeting
