Lesser-known or small Chinese towns and cities with a strong festive ambience, as well as neo-Chinese-style destinations that blend contemporary and traditional Chinese culture, were popular choices for domestic and international tourists alike during the Chinese New Year holiday, which ended on Monday.

This year's Spring Festival holiday, also known as the Chinese New Year holiday, began on Feb 15 and concluded on Monday. The nine-day holiday was the longest in recent years, as previous Spring Festival holidays typically lasted a week or eight days.

Sha An'na, from Beijing, enjoyed the picturesque lantern show at Datong, in North China's Shanxi province, with her family on the night of Feb 17.

"It's really stunning looking down at the lantern show from the ancient city walls," she said. "I felt like I was traveling back in time."

The city became an instant hit after the release  in 2024 of the Chinese-developed video game Black Myth: Wukong, which features several game scenes closely related to ancient Buddhist and Taoist cultures.

Sha said she had hoped to experience lively and festive vibes of the Chinese New Year that were different from those in Beijing, leading her to plan the trip to Datong, a city that boasts a rich cultural heritage.

"The food was also very delicious, especially the knife-cut noodles. The city left us with memories of historical legacies and a human touch, and we will come back next Spring Festival," she said.

Lively discussions about Datong and many other niche but attractive towns and small cities circulated on the internet during the holiday. Their distinctive celebrations, mouthwatering foods and strong cultural vibes were a craze among tourists.

Figures from travel portal Tuniu show that the number of tourists to the Baoting Li and Miao autonomous county in South China's Hai-nan province and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province — places with distinctive and exotic ethnic cultures — doubled compared with the previous Spring Festival holiday. Destinations including Chaozhou in Guangdong province and Shangrao and Jingde-zhen in Jiangxi province also saw tourist numbers double year-on-year.

Qunar, another online travel agency, noted strong enthusiasm among young people for neo-Chinese-style destinations during the holiday. The agency said that some history- or novel-based theme parks, such as Millennium City Park and Wansui Mountain Wuxia City in Henan province, were top spots on its platform during the holiday.

The long holiday also stimulated Chinese people's desire for long-distance overseas trips. Qunar said that from Feb 15 to Monday, its users flew to nearly 1,000 cities worldwide.

Zhang Yi, who finished her four-day trip to Thailand with her family and returned to Shanghai on Sunday, said: "It's our third time visiting the country, but the first time celebrating the Chinese New Year there. Thailand is a good place to relax."

Qunar also noted that many of its users spent the Spring Festival holiday in Italy due to the recently concluded 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

"Based on our figures, flight ticket bookings to Italy on Feb 14 and Feb 15 — the day before the Spring Festival holiday started and the first day of the holiday — increased 64 percent compared with the previous two days," it said.

Additionally, the social media trend of "becoming Chinese" has extended to the tourism market, with an increasing number of international travelers visiting the Chinese mainland during the Spring Festival holiday to experience authentic festive vibes.

Figures from Qunar show that flight bookings to the mainland made by travelers holding non-Chinese passports grew 20 percent year-on-year during the holiday. Top destinations for these international travelers included not only metropolises like Shanghai and Beijing, but also lesser-known places like Jinggangshan in Jiangxi and Altay in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"Most of these travelers came from South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia and the United States. Domestic places with richer festive atmospheres and celebration events are most attractive to them," said Qunar.

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn

Zhu Xingxin in Taiyuan contributed to this story.