00:00Gary Bauman is director of travel and tourism research firm Check-in Asia and a founder
00:05of the newsletter Asia Travel Reset.
00:09This year I think we've seen more fragmentation, more diversification than probably ever before
00:14in a spring festival.
00:16There's also a bit of timing, it's slightly later in the year than it is other years so
00:19that means temperatures are slightly different if you're going for a ski holiday, you've
00:22had great ski weather in Europe this year.
00:24If you're self-driving in Australia or New Zealand, the weather's not quite as hot as
00:28it would be if it was back in January.
00:32And yeah, technology is playing a part but also this is an interesting time of year for
00:37holidays because you get multi-generational travel, you also get Gen Z travel, you get
00:41solo travel, you just have a real pick and mix and I think what we've seen in 2026 is
00:47a progression from 2025 and 2024.
00:50We're seeing the Chinese market with its strength, with its confidence back and it's just diversifying
00:54more than ever.
00:55You mentioned skiing but there's been a big push in China, hasn't there, for the snow
01:00and ice economy.
01:02That's playing into it too.
01:05It's a cultural juggernaut.
01:07I mean, there's so many aspects to the snow and ice economy.
01:10It's elements of fitness, it's elements of well-being, it's elements of fun, it's elements
01:15of skiing and learning and for younger people, you know, getting better and better at skiing
01:21and snowboarding and those kind of things.
01:23You see the, you know, they have role models now from the Olympics in China that is encouraging
01:29young people to get involved.
01:30And there have been incentives, haven't there, like free weeks for students.
01:36I wonder what incentives like that on technological innovations have really changed the travel
01:42experience and led to this boom.
01:44Because there's an app for everything, right?
01:47Yeah, there's an app for everything, you know, we have a really, really strong tech sector
01:51in China which is hot around the world right now.
01:53You know, every single podcast, every conference, every TV news show at the moment is talking
01:58about Chinese tech and that's having an influence on the way people around the world are embracing
02:03Chinese tribes in different ways than before.
02:05So, you know, the Chinese New Year holidays, the festivals around that are encompassed much
02:10more in cities around the world than they ever were before.
02:12So, you've got this mix of tech and tradition, you've got different age groups, you've got
02:17different demographies, you know, you're really seeing that the Spring Festival now is integrated
02:23into the global year-round calendar of travel.
02:26And what about influencers, famous people and film?
02:31That's really playing into certain destinations and experiences having a moment.
02:38It is and again, that's a global trend, we see that across Asia, we see that around the world
02:43and certainly, you know, the TV shows, the movies, the pop stars, the culture festivals,
02:47the music, you know, you're seeing a lot of people, particularly young people who are
02:52creating their own itineraries and you know, a part of those itineraries, they have total
02:56flexibility to create and go where they want to.
02:59And they do want to go to famous shooting destinations from movies, from films, they
03:04want to go see pop video locations, those kind of things, you know, that's very much the modern
03:09zeitgeist now and self-driving and rail travel enable people to get out beyond the big cities
03:15more than they ever did before.
03:16So
Comments