With the Spring Festival approaching, cross-border travel is seeing a surge in popularity. According to big data from Tongcheng Travel, Xiamen is among the top 10 source cities for outbound tourists during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday on the platform. Additionally, the city has been featured on multiple Spring Festival travel-related lists, including the "Top 10 Destinations Favored by Foreign Visitors".
Driven by visa-free policies, destinations such as the Philippines and Turkey have become popular choices for outbound travel. Multiple travel agencies in Xiamen have reported a notable increase in inquiries for related travel products, indicating strong willingness among residents to travel during the Spring Festival holiday.
Chinese travelers have booked hotels in over 3,000 cities worldwide for this Spring Festival holiday, according to data from Qunar. This represents an expansion in global coverage, with bookings reaching 125 more cities than during the same holiday period last year.
The countries with the most hotel bookings for outbound travel include Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam, Australia, and Indonesia.
China has decided to extend its visa waiver policy to ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom starting from Feb 17.
Forty-one new port-of-entry duty-free shops have been established nationwide, with Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, Xiamen Wutong Passenger Wharf, and Xiamen International Cruise Center included on the list.
