As the 2026 New Year's holiday approaches, China has seen rising ticket sales and travel bookings for the three-day break, amid the country's ramped-up policy support to boost consumption.

Sales for train tickets for December 31 began on Wednesday, while sales for January 1, 2026, begin on Thursday. According to the report from the travel app Umetrip, the pre-booked travel orders for New Year's Day holiday train tickets have increased by nearly 170 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, as ice-snow tourism is becoming one of the most popular travel choices for the holiday, railway departments across multiple regions have added ice-and-snow themed tourism trains to accommodate the growing demand.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway line, for instance, a key route for winter travel in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, which is expected to see a surge in passenger flow during the holiday, now allows passengers to carry ski equipment on board and offers designated storage space.

In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, another popular skiing destination, additional temporary trains and extra carriages have been arranged for routes such as Urumqi to Altay and Yining to handle surging travel demand during the holiday period.

Since the beginning of December, bookings for flights and holiday accommodations have shown a steady increase, with overall reservations up nearly 30 percent compared to the same period last year. As of December 17, domestic flight bookings for the 2026 New Year's Day holiday exceeded 1.76 million, a year-on-year increase of around 46 percent.

In addition to strong domestic demand, outbound travel is also gaining momentum, with international flight bookings to popular destinations rising more than 40 percent, and long-haul routes such as those to Europe continuing to grow in popularity.