Red lanterns, Chinese knots and dragon-themed decorations being seen everywhere, festive songs looping in almost every indoor area, billions of Chinese joining the world's largest human migration known as “chun yun”… As these familiar, once in a year kind of scenes unfold, we can clearly see the Spring Festival approaches. The beginning of the Year of the Dragon falls on Feb. 10, 2024, which Chinese people believe would bring good luck and fortune as the Chinese dragon, or loong, is often regarded as auspicious, noble creature.  It’s also worth noting that in December 2023, the 78th United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution, officially listing the Lunar New Year as a UN floating holiday in its calendar of conferences and meetings from 2024.  According to Chinese Foreign Ministry, nearly 20 countries have designated the Spring Festival as a legal holiday, and approximately one-fifth of the global population celebrates the Lunar New Year in various ways, which indicates an increasing global recognition of China's culture and its influence. In less than 48 hours, we’ll officially usher in the Year of the Dragon. Are we in for a lucky, powerful year? Perhaps a record-breaking 9 billion domestic trips expected and a good start for consumption to ring in the new year will provide some hints. Traveling rush With a longer-than-usual Chinese New Year holiday, it is anticipated that the potential of China's travel market will be further unleashed. China's railway network handled 81.55 million trips between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1, the first week of the Spring Festival travel rush. China State Railway Group estimates that a total of 480 million railway trips are expected to be made during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, surging 37.9 percent compared with the 2023 level. According to the Ministry of Transport, around 9 billion people will travel between regions in China from Jan. 26 to March 5, a new record high and nearly triple the pre-pandemic level of 2019.  As the country braces for the largest annual human migration on the planet with a record trips expected, analysts projected a fresh consumption boom for the economy, which will not only give a boost to the world's second-largest economy, but also stimulate the confidence of enterprises to step up investment and innovation. While most Chinese people are busy heading home for reunion, some have plans to take advantage of the holiday away from home. As the Lunar New Year draws near, domestic tourists are booking getaways ranging from the snowy northern regions to the relaxing southern hot springs, with reservations soaring 600 percent on Chinese online travel agency Trip.com. The regional travel experience, which has evolved into a trend known as the "North-South Exchange," continues to attract visitors seeking unique and immersive journeys, it added. While China's northern and southern attractions are in a tight contest to lure travelers during the holiday that runs from Feb. 10 to Feb. 17, some overseas destinations have also joined the "traveling carnival" by issuing visa-friendly policies and showing goodwill gestures. Among them, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia may be the biggest winners after China recently announced the mutual exemption of visas with these countries. Some European countries are also rising as popular choices for Chinese travelers thanks to the increasing numbers of flights, said travel agencies. According to travel portal Qunar, hotel bookings to Russia, Spain, Italy and France for the holiday have seen continuous growth on the platform, and hotel bookings for overseas destinations peaked around Jan. 10, while flight bookings peaked at the end of January.   Bookings on Trip.Com for trips to and from China over the Lunar New Year holiday have soared more than 900 percent compared with the year-earlier period.  The China Tourism Academy estimates that the number of outbound visits exceeded 87 million in 2023, a twof