Tourists visit an ecological park in Loudi City, central China’s Hunan Province, May 3, 2025. (Photo by Wu Yonghua/Xinhua)
During the five-day May Day holiday, Chinese travelers took an estimated 314 million domestic trips, marking a 6.4 percent increase from the previous year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Tourist spending also saw a notable rise, reaching 180.3 billion yuan (roughly 25 billion U.S. dollars), an 8 percent year-on-year jump that highlights the sustained vitality of consumer activity.
The May Day holiday, running from May 1 to 5, is typically one of the busiest travel periods of the year. During this time, millions of Chinese travelers hit the road to visit family, explore domestic destinations, or venture abroad. This surge in travel provides a boost to the transportation, tourism and retail sectors.
Passengers prepare to board a train at Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2025. The transportation network of the country witnessed a travel peak on the first day of the May Day holiday. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo shows three cruise ships berthing at Tianjin International Cruise Home Port in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, May 1, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)Tourists visit Fuzimiao, or the Confucius Temple, in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua)Tourists watch a music fountain show in Shangqiu City, central China’s Henan Province, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Li Heng/Xinhua)Tourists watch a fireworks show in Jurong City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Zhong Xueman/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo taken on May 3, 2025 shows tourists enjoying themselves on a boat in Rongcheng City, east China’s Shandong Province. (Photo by Li Xinjun/Xinhua)Vloggers shoot a video at a historical cultural area in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Zhang Shu/Xinhua)Tourists watch a robot show at Taizhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, May 4, 2025. (Photo by Jiang Youqing/Xinhua)This drone photo taken on May 4, 2025 shows tourists visiting the Huangguoshu Scenic Area in Anshun City, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. (Photo by Chen Xi/Xinhua)
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance,
a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went
back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016,
working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
