Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

The nine-day 2026 Spring Festival holidays, the longest on record, are projected to significantly boost the popularity of outbound travel.

According to official estimations, passenger air traffic during the travel rush period is expected to reach an all-time high, with both outbound and inbound flying routes likely to experience new peaks in demand.

In a shift from the previous year's travel patterns, recent data from several online tourism platforms indicates that Thailand has overtaken Japan as the top outbound destination for the Spring Festival holidays.

According to data sent by the online travel platform Qunar to the Global Times, the top 10 destinations for hotel bookings from mid-January through the Spring Festival period are Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, China's Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam, China's Macao SAR, Australia, and Indonesia. Notably, Japan did not make the list.

According to data provided by Tongcheng Travel, as of January 12, Southeast Asian destinations accounted for half of the top 10 most popular international flight booking destinations for the Spring Festival holidays, led by Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh and Bali.

Flight statistics from the aviation data platform Flight Master also confirm that Thailand has emerged as the top outbound destination during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, while flights to Japan have plunged, with a year-on-year drop of 43.7 percent. 

The flights to countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Laos, have seen a significant increase in flights, it said.

In the past years, Japan had consistently ranked as the most popular outbound destination during Spring Festival holidays. However, during the recent New Year holidays, South Korea surpassed Japan as the top outbound destination.

Chinese carriers are ramping up efforts to open more flying routes. In the international market, China Eastern Airlines said on Friday that it has newly launched or increased the frequency of over 50 international routes, operating a total of more than 2,800 flights during the Spring Festival travel season. 

The airline has expanded capacity mainly to popular winter destinations in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. New routes include Shanghai-Phu Quoc, Xi'an-Yantai-Seoul, Hefei-Kuala Lumpur, and Taiyuan-Phuket, while previously suspended routes such as Taiyuan-Bangkok and Chengdu-Phuket have resumed. Flight frequencies have also been increased on routes from major first- and second-tier cities in China to destinations such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Malé, Singapore, Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Hanoi.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said recently that passenger traffic in China's civil aviation sector during the coming Spring Festival travel rush is likely to hit a record high, reaching 95 million trips, with a daily average of 2.38 million passengers, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 5.3 percent.


Global Times