Senior tourists visit a village in Qionghai, South China’s Hainan Province, on February 17, 2025. Photo: VCG
China’s 40-day Spring Festival travel rush has concluded with a record-breaking number of inter-regional trips, according to official data on Sunday.
The total number of inter-regional passenger trips across China during the period, also known as chunyun, reached a record of 9.02 billion, up 7.1 percent from the same period last year. Railway travel totaled 510 million trips, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
As railway capacity returns to normal following the Spring Festival, attention is turning to the country’s booming “silver tourism” market, with a growing number of senior tour train projects set to take off.
“Our agency is now preparing to run tour trains for seniors, starting in March,” Beijing-based Tushun International Travel Agency told the Global Times on Sunday.
“We will operate two trains on March 15 and March 18, each carrying about 400 passengers,” the agency said. “One will head to provinces in South China, such as Guangdong, while the other will travel to East China, both taking advantage of the warm weather and early spring scenes. The March 15 train is already fully booked,” said the agency.
These trains are equipped with four-person sleeper compartments and onboard medical staff to cater specifically to senior travelers. Last year, the agency ran more than 100 such trains, and it expects to increase this number in 2025.
In cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou, senior-friendly trains are also becoming increasingly popular. On February 14, the first senior tour train of 2025 departed from Shanghai for the Yangtze River Delta. It offers a comfortable travel experience for elderly tourists with accessible modifications, medical personnel, and a range of services including guided tours, luggage assistance and in-room dining.
An expert noted that as China’s elderly population continues to grow, the demand for travel among seniors will surge, bringing economic and social benefits.
With improvements in senior health services and increased life expectancy, consumption of senior groups will expand. More seniors over the age of 70 will develop a demand for tourism, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday.
The market for “silver tourism” is shifting from niche to mainstream. Zhou said that developing senior tourism not only drives consumption but also helps to improve the physical and mental well-being of elderly individuals.
China is making significant strides in promoting senior consumption, with “silver tourism” becoming a key focus. On January 16, China’s Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and several other departments jointly issued an action plan outlining 12 key tasks to enhance the supply of senior-friendly tour trains, improve aging-friendly facilities, and create a more supportive environment for “silver tourism.”
According to the action plan, the government aims to establish a comprehensive “silver tourism” train system by 2027, covering a wide range of routes, themes and services across the country. This initiative is designed to better meet the needs of senior travelers and tap into a new growth point for services consumption.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of people aged 60 and above in China reached 310.31 million in 2024, accounting for 22 percent of the total population. Among them, 220.23 million were aged 65 and above.
“With a large and mostly healthy elderly population, China holds immense potential for consumption in the elder tourism sector,” Zhou said.
China is witnessing a fast-growing silver economy. According to a report by China Media Group, the size of China’s silver economy reached 7 trillion yuan ($965.3 billion) in 2024, accounting for about 6 percent of the country’s GDP. By 2035, the silver economy is expected to reach 30 trillion yuan, making up 10 percent of GDP, the report said.
