China starts 9-day Chinese New Year holidays with travellers shunning Japan amid bilateral spat
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A record 9.5 billion trips are projected during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush through March 13, known in Chinese as “Chunyun”.
PHOTO: AFP
BEIJING – China’s nine-day Chinese New Year holidays kicked off on Feb 15, with Japan dropping out of the 10 most popular overseas destinations for Chinese travellers after Beijing urged its citizens not to visit the neighbouring country amid diplomatic tensions over Taiwan.
South Korea is expected to become a top overseas destination with about 250,000 Chinese visitors, up 1.5-fold from the previous year. Other popular nations include Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Turkey and Russia, according to local media reports.
The tensions stem from parliamentary remarks in November 2025 by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, suggesting that Tokyo could act in the event of an attack on Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China.
The number of Japan-bound Chinese tourists during the Chinese New Year holidays is expected to fall by up to 60 per cent from the previous year.
A record 9.5 billion trips are projected during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush until March 13, known in Chinese as “Chunyun”.
Following Beijing’s repeated travel warnings based on its claim that crimes targeting Chinese nationals have risen in Japan, a 45-year-old Shanghai doctor who had annually spent the Chinese New Year holidays in the neighbouring country with his family said he has chosen New Zealand as his destination in 2026.
“I do not want to be criticised for travelling to Japan,” the doctor said.
Meanwhile, a worker at a state-owned company in Beijing said: “I would not dare tell my co-workers that I am going to Japan for business or leisure.” KYODO NEWS
