Beijing - Shi Ying won’t
be making the traditional pilgrimage back to Shanghai to celebrate the Lunar
New Year holiday with her extended family. Instead, they’re all going to Japan
for shopping and sightseeing.
That new custom
lets her family bypass the mobs, clogged roads and subways, lousy customer
services -- and boredom -- that can mark holidays at home. During the past few
celebrations, Shi and her relatives left China for Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand and the U.S.
“The last thing
my parents want for the Chinese New Year is a cheerless holiday with the three
of us staying home in Shanghai,” said Shi, 30, who works for a non-governmental
organization in Beijing. “Going overseas during the Spring Festival costs about
the same as going to some domestic tourist spots.”
The essence of
China’s seven-day holiday, also called Spring Festival, is morphing as rising
incomes and an expanding network of international flights prompt more people to
go abroad - the equivalent of Americans choosing Bermuda over the Midwest for
Thanksgiving. Outbound travel for the holiday break is expected to top a record
6 million passengers, with airlines hauling near-full loads to Japan, South
Korea and Southeast Asia.
“Chinese New
Year is a major international peak for the Chinese airlines,” said Steve Saxon,
a Shanghai-based partner at consultant McKinsey & Co. “For many, this is
one of the only two opportunities to take a long holiday during the year.”
‘Swim in money’
The Spring
Festival shuts down the world’s second-biggest economy for a week as hundreds
of millions of factory and office workers leave their adopted homes in Shenzhen
or Beijing to reconnect with their ancestral ones, often on the opposite side
of the country. Thousands more expatriates return.
This year’s
celebration, from January 27 through Febuary 2, will see the biggest mass migration
of people on Earth. More than 414 million Chinese will ride in planes and
trains - as if everyone in the European Union was on the move.
About 58.3
million people are expected to fly, representing a 10 percent increase from
last year, according to estimates by the Civil Aviation Administration of
China. Chinese airlines generate about 20 percent of their revenue during this
period, Saxon said.
Chinese will
travel to 174 destinations outside mainland China for an average of 9.2 days
during the holiday period, according to online travel service Ctrip.com
International.
“Any airline
should be able to swim in money during a Chinese traveling holiday,” said Will
Horton, a Hong Kong-based analyst at CAPA Centre for Aviation.
GDP growth
Fueling those
excursions is an economy growing annually by at least 6.7 percent since 1990,
giving people more money to spend. Disposable income for urban households rose
165 percent from 2006 to 2015, reaching about 31,195 yuan ($4,551), according
to China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
Instead of going
back to her hometown in the northeast China forest, Xi Chunhui is going to
Macau, Singapore and Hong Kong for 11 days with a friend.
“The Spring
Festival celebration is the same old thing every year at home,” said Xi, 27, an
editor for an internet portal in Beijing. “I don’t think me not being there
with them will kill the mood.”
Read also: Chinese New Year: A visual feast
Going
sightseeing abroad also is a consequence of the government’s generations-long
policy restricting most families to one child, said Catherine Lim, a
Singapore-based analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. A more-affluent younger
generation now wants to see the world, she said.
“When your
entire family size shrinks, there really isn’t much to do” at home, Lim said.
“They want to spend more money -- particularly the younger generation -- on
experiencing new destinations rather than buying the biggest Hermes bag.”
China is the
biggest source of overseas travelers in the world, with 128 million people
spending $292 billion on their trips in 2015, according to the World Tourism
Organisation.
Discounts ending
That’s been a
boon to the nation’s airlines, with demand running so high that discounts are
ending as many as 50 days before takeoff, according to Ctrip.com. The
top-dollar tickets help carriers make up for the massive price cuts offered
during slow seasons.
China Southern
Airlines, Asia’s biggest carrier, added nearly 3 600 flights during this
peak travel season - and expanded services to Australia and New Zealand, the
Guangzhou-based airline said. Subsidiary Xiamen Airlines Co. is adding more
than 100 flights to Southeast Asia destinations such as Bali and the Maldives,
said Hu Nan, a manager for international business.
China Eastern
Airlines, based in Shanghai, added 400 flights starting this month mostly
to connect second-tier cities with Okinawa, Japan; Bangkok and Chiang Mai,
Thailand; and Cebu, Philippines.
“All the
airlines in China, not just us, are throwing in all resources to brace for the
Chinese New Year travel,” Hu said. “There is no slack there.”
Easier visas
On the
destination sides, Japan, Australia and even Israel are rolling out the welcome
mats for Chinese tourists by offering multiple-year, multiple-entry visas to
Chinese passport holders. The United Arab Emirates is going a step further by
offering visas upon arrival, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Chinese visitors
to Japan jumped 28 percent last year to 6.4 million - the most from any
country, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation.
When they
arrived, they spent 1.47 trillion yen ($12.8 billion), according to the
separate Japan Tourism Agency. Chinese perceive Japanese electronics, luxury
items and consumer goods like cosmetics and toothpaste to be of better quality
than those made at home.
Read also: China to further open economy
Shi’s family
will fly to Japan on Jan. 27 for a seven-day trip in Kyoto and Tokyo. Besides
the tourist attractions, they plan some serious shopping - for cosmetics,
clothes, rice cookers and high-technology toilet seats.
“My parents
really get a kick out of traveling during the Chinese New Year,” she said.
“Let’s hope I can cap my spending for the whole trip at 80 000 yuan.”
BLOOMBERG