Chinese spring festival tickets already in high demand

Many countries of the far east put great importance on their festivals and celebrations marking the arrival of spring, and in the massive country of China, tickets are already going fast for this year’s spring festival holiday, the most important traditional vacation in the country.

Tickets went on sale January 13th and in the country’s bigger cities like Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai, a visible surge of people crowded ticket windows to assure their place to go home for the holidays. This shows how many migrant workers have come from the Chinese countryside to seek their fortunes in the big cities.

The travel season for the festival lasts from January 23rd to march 2nd; the 40 days surrounding the official holiday from February 6th to the 8th. With so many people wanting to get home for a holiday, the school holidays have been staggered as much as possible with the worker’s holidays to offset the surge of travellers. Booths selling tickets were placed on school campuses and extra carriages were attached to trains to accommodate the extra flow.