On December 17, train tickets for New Year's Eve (December 31) officially went on sale. According to data from TONGCHENGTRAVEL, within less than half a minute, tickets for popular routes such as Beijing to Harbin and Shenyang, Shenzhen to Xiamen, and Guangzhou to Changsha became highly sought after, with peak-time slots selling out instantly. Many users opted for waitlisting.

Unlike last year's single-day holiday, this year's three-day New Year break has significantly boosted demand for train and flight tickets. TONGCHENGTRAVEL platform data shows that search traffic for tickets around the New Year period has surged by 303% compared to the same period last year.

Based on sold tickets and advance bookings, TONGCHENGTRAVEL revealed the top 10 departure cities for the holiday: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, and Nanjing. The top 10 destinations include Shanghai, Harbin, Beijing, Shenyang, Dali, Kunming, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Guiyang, and Changsha.

Driven by winter-themed and warm-weather travel trends, long-distance train routes to Northeast China, Yunnan, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces are in high demand. The Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail route is particularly popular, with tickets to Harbin, Shenyang, and Changchun selling briskly. Meanwhile, travelers chasing sunshine are heading south, with Kunming, Dali, Guangzhou, Xiamen, and Nanning ranking high in ticket demand.

Notably, the newly opened Shenyang-Baihe section of the Shenyang-Jiamusi high-speed rail is expected to spur additional holiday travel demand.

While train tickets have a 15-day advance booking window, flight reservations for New Year’s have already peaked. TONGCHENGTRAVEL data indicates that flight bookings have more than doubled year-over-year, with average ticket prices rising significantly compared to last month due to strong holiday demand.