Celebrating the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, in China emerged as a new global trend this year.

Data show that inbound tourist arrivals during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Feb. 15 to 23, doubled year on year, while international tourists' flight bookings for the holiday surged more than 400 percent compared to the same period last year.

What draws foreign visitors to China for the Spring Festival is, at its heart, a longing for authentic Chinese culture — and an immersive experience beyond sightseeing.

This Spring Festival, the footprint of international visitors reflected a clear shift toward immersive experiences. Intangible cultural heritage experiences became must-dos, counties and rural areas emerged as unexpected highlights, and living like a local became the new aspiration.

A foreigner films the lion dance performance at a temple fair in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 17, 2026. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

A young Spanish woman had her face painted in traditional style and threw herself into a Yingge dance performance, a vivid traditional art form originating from the Chaoshan region of south China's Guangdong Province, immersing herself in the living traditions of Chaoshan culture. A Norwegian vlogger, with a fish-shaped lantern in hand, wandered the flagstone lanes of Hongcun village in east China's Anhui Province and found that no screen could do justice to being there in person. They were no longer bystanders at someone else's celebration — they were in the thick of it, making dumplings, writing Spring Festival couplets, and weaving through bustling market stalls, touching the cultural essence of the Chinese New Year rooted in the theme of reunion and the pursuit of blessings.

The Chinese New Year's popularity worldwide owes much to favorable policies and speaks volumes about the country's broader embrace of the world.

On Feb. 17, the first day of the Year of the Horse, China extended visa-free access to Canada and the UK, bringing the total number of countries enjoying unilateral visa-free entry to 50, while the 72- and 144-hour transit visa-free policy continued to expand in reach.

According to the National Immigration Administration, China recorded 30.08 million visa-free entries, accounting for 73.1 percent of the total number of foreign entries.

The Spring Festival's global popularity also reflects an emotional resonance that has won hearts around the globe. The Spring Festival has never been merely a showcase of Chinese culture. The values it embodies — reunion, hope, and the wish for a better life — know no borders and no racial boundaries.

As Chinese cultural IPs, such as "Black Myth: Wukong," gain global popularity, as the Spring Festival's successful inscription on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage strengthens its status as a shared cultural asset of humanity, and as "Becoming Chinese" trends online as a popular tag, more international visitors are eager to step into China and experience both its ancient traditions and modern vitality firsthand. For many international visitors, the Spring Festival serves as a compendium of Chinese culture, allowing them to witness thousands of years of folk customs alongside the dynamism of contemporary China.

The Chinese New Year's global popularity is not just a testament to the enduring appeal of China's culture — it also points to the vast untapped potential of the country's inbound tourism market.

Research from the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce suggests that China is on track to become one of the world's fastest-growing inbound tourism markets over the next decade. By 2035, spending by international visitors in China is projected to reach approximately 1.5 trillion yuan (about $217.72 billion), with inbound tourism set to play an increasingly powerful role in driving growth in services trade and consumption.