Counting China's New Vitality at the Start｜14.74M trips, 6.88B yuan in consumption, where does the "new rigid demand" for spring break come from?

Editor’s Note: 2026 is the beginning year of the “14th Five-Year Plan.” The potential of the domestic demand market continues to be unleashed, new consumption scenarios keep emerging, and hotspots such as cultural tourism integration, ice and snow economy, and national trend consumption frequently appear, demonstrating the resilience and vitality of a large-scale market. To deeply interpret the new atmosphere at the start, China National Radio Network launches the series report “Data Reading China’s New Vitality at the Start,” supported by data, focusing on vivid practices in local consumption scenes, industrial upgrades, and people’s livelihood improvements, presenting an era picture of China’s economy seeking progress amid stability and bursting with vitality.

China National Radio Network Nanjing, April 4 (Reporter Lü Qianyuan) The sunshine is gentle, the breeze is mild, and on the large lawn by Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, a seven or eight-year-old girl is running against the wind, holding a kite string, as a butterfly kite wobbles and rises into the sky. The reel spins rapidly in her hand, and her mother, holding a phone, tries to capture this moment.

Such warm scenes have been repeatedly played out across the country recently. Starting April 1, provinces such as Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Anhui have successively launched spring vacation modes.

Jiangsu’s three-day spring vacation cultural and tourism consumption “report card” has been released. According to Jiangsu Smart Cultural Tourism Platform monitoring, from April 1 to 3, the province’s 754 monitored tourist attractions, 195 key rural tourism villages at or above the provincial level, 97 nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters, 253 cultural and museum venues, 32 tourism leisure streets, and 62 holiday resorts received a total of 14.74M visitors, with total tourist spending reaching 6.88B yuan, an increase of 31.11% and 32.51% respectively compared to 2025.

Spring outing at Xuanwu Lake Park in Nanjing (Photo by China National Radio Network Reporter Lü Qianyuan)

Parent-child families account for 60% of consumption

During the three-day spring vacation, Jiangsu’s cultural and tourism market experienced explosive growth. UnionPay data shows that during the spring holiday, cross-regional cultural and tourism consumption through UnionPay channels in the province reached 6.18B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.36%, accounting for 11.4% of the national cultural and tourism consumption total, maintaining the top spot nationwide.

In this wave of enthusiasm, parent-child families have become the main force. Data from Tuniu platform shows that during the spring holiday, orders for parent-child travel products accounted for over 60%, with related spending increasing by 81% year-on-year.

Children experiencing the beauty of spring (Photo provided by Kunshan Municipal Propaganda Department)

Why is spring vacation so “money-making”? Lü Yonggang, director of the Economic Research Institute at Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the core audience of spring vacation is elementary and middle school students, which directly drives the travel demand of parent-child families. At the same time, now “80s” and “90s” parents are active groups in cultural tourism consumption; they are willing to plan trips for their children and have stable consumption habits themselves. “The combination of these two factors makes spring travel a ‘rigid demand’ for two generations,” Lü Yonggang added. Jiangsu’s rich cultural tourism resources, convenient transportation, and strong reception capacity make the data growth unsurprising.

The increase in visitors to scenic spots and museums further confirms this trend. During the three-day spring holiday, the top three attractions in visitor numbers were the Confucius Temple-Qinhuai Scenic Area in Nanjing, the Zhongshan Mountain Scenic Area in Nanjing, and the Jinji Lake Scenic Area in Suzhou. These open-air scenic spots became the first choice for parent-child families to enjoy spring. Museums are also popular places for “kid-walking.” A total of 112 monitored museums across the province received 1.08M visitors, a comparable increase of 62.35% year-on-year. Nanjing Museum, Suzhou Museum, and Yangzhou China Grand Canal Museum lined up for long queues, with children stopping in front of cultural relics, engaging in dialogues with history.

“Walking classrooms” in the fields

Beyond consumption data, the deeper transformation of spring holiday content is more noteworthy.

At Yufengdao Organic Farm in Kunshan, scattered on the lawn are open farming picture books. More than a dozen children sit in a circle, their small hands covered in green dumpling powder, kneading carefully. The steamer lid is lifted, and the steam with the aroma of mugwort wafts out. “I made this!” a boy holds up a slightly green dumpling, eyes shining. Next to him, beeswax melts slowly in a small pot, as children hold their breath, waiting for the moment they can make lip balm with their own hands.

Children walking into the fields (Photo provided by Kunshan Municipal Propaganda Department)

In Zishan Village, Lishui District, Nanjing, thousands of acres of rapeseed flowers surge like golden waves. Children squat by the furrow, learning to identify seedlings and weeds with agricultural technicians. Nearby, the “Snail Garden Tour” is in full swing. “So snails grow this big!” a girl shows her spoils, mud splashing on her pants. During the spring holiday, Lishui District received a total of 60 research and study groups, with over 3,600 participants.

It is understood that Jiangsu has launched more than 60 research travel routes, over 400 boutique courses, more than 300 research products, and over 200 research activities, covering intangible cultural heritage experiences, smart agriculture, museum relics, and Jiangnan poetry. A “walking classroom” is unfolding between cities and fields. “I hope children can feel the cultural heritage of their hometown while ‘reading ten thousand books’ and ‘traveling ten thousand miles’,” said Xia Mixin, a parent of a third-grade student in Nanjing.

“China has had the tradition of spring outings since ancient times.” Lü Yonggang believes, “Spring vacation is the time when all things sprout. Children need to step out of the classroom, see with their eyes, listen with their ears, and touch with their hands.” In his view, this province-wide spring vacation practice is upgrading traditional spring outings into a new scene of quality education.