China's annual Spring Festival travel rush, a 40-day period commonly referred to as the world's largest annual human migration, kicked off on Monday ahead of an extended Lunar New Year holiday.

This year's Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac, falls on February 17 and will be accompanied by an extra-long nine-day public holiday in China, running from February 15 to 23.

It's hoped a longer holiday (last year's break was eight days long) might prompt Chinese consumers to boost consumption by spending more on travel, meals and more this festival period.

Many Chinese consumers have been shaken by the country's uncertain economic outlook and would rather save than spend. Homeowners have seen their assets depreciate in a years-long property market slump, while weaker growth momentum since the pandemic has added to job insecurity.

This said, a state planning official said last week that China expects a record 9.5 billion passenger trips to be made during the travel period, surpassing the 9.02 billion trips made last year.

"Why do I feel it's even more stressful to buy tickets this year compared to last year? For example, the flight back to my home is already sold out," said 32-year-old Liu, a traveller flying out of Guangzhou airport on Monday. "If you don't buy early, the price range fluctuates a lot, and can even double."

Major travel platforms reported Lunar New Year bookings for 2026 already surpassing last year's levels. According to data from Flight Master, as of mid-January, bookings for domestic flights during the holiday exceeded 4.13 million, up about 21 percent year-on-year.

Popular outbound destinations are concentrated in Southeast Asia, with those flights accounting for nearly 50% of the total and Thailand among the leading destinations. Following a geo-political spat between China and Japan late last year, routes to Japan have dropped sharply, down over 40%, according to Flight Master.

Domestically, culturally rich "intangible heritage towns", such as such as Huangshan in Anhui, Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, Quanzhou in Fujian, Foshan in Guangdong and Zigong in Sichuan have emerged as popular destinations, according to data from online travel agency Qunar.

($1 = 6.9504 Chinese yuan renminbi)

-Reporting by Nicoco Chan and Casey Hall, additional reporting by Chenxi Yang/Reuters