"All Chinese people in the restaurant" During the 9-day Spring Festival holiday, more than 18 million people are expected to enter and exit the country.

Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site—the archaeological site of Stone Valley in El Oula—has recently seen a surge of Chinese tourists. Whether at local attractions, hotels, or restaurants, the “Chinese presence” has sharply increased. Some hotels are so full of Chinese guests during breakfast that the scene looks like a return to China, prompting netizens to joke, “It feels like I’ve gone back home.”

Not only in Saudi Arabia. Since the longest Spring Festival holiday in history officially began, Chinese tourists have been everywhere around the world. Museums and attractions in Thailand, South Korea, Iceland, Australia, and the Netherlands have been overtaken by Chinese visitors. Red Book users reported that on February 15, the famous Twelve Apostles in Melbourne was filled with Chinese tourists. At the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands, 90% of visitors are Chinese, and Chinese can be heard everywhere inside. Some Chinese tourists also revealed that on New Year’s Eve, while celebrating at the top of Tromsø in Norway, 80% of the crowd on the mountain was Chinese compatriots, almost occupying the entire summit. When midnight struck on the first day of the lunar new year, the whole mountain was filled with people exchanging New Year greetings in Chinese.

The National Immigration Administration predicts that during this year’s Spring Festival holiday, the average daily number of inbound and outbound travelers at ports nationwide will exceed 2.05 million, a 14.1% increase compared to last year’s holiday. This means over 18 million entries and exits over the nine days. According to data from Flight Master DAST, as of February 17, during the 16 days of the Spring Festival travel rush, international flights totaled 31,719, a 0.7% increase year-over-year, while flights to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan numbered 6,463, up 9.9%.

Travel platform Tongcheng Travel shows that the top 10 popular outbound destinations during the Spring Festival include Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali, Sydney, Ho Chi Minh City, Macau, and Phuket. In terms of activities, Chinatown in Bangkok, Thian Hock Keng Temple in Kuala Lumpur, and Chinatown in Singapore have become popular check-in spots with strong festive atmospheres. Regarding travel duration, over 70% of outbound travel orders are for 4- to 5-day trips. Many travelers choose to fly out on the second day of the lunar new year and return on the sixth day, balancing traditional customs with foreign vacations.

(Source: 21st Century Business Herald)