(ECNS) — During the Spring Festival holiday, southeast China’s Fujian Province hosted events such as the 2025 Cross-Strait Spring Festival Fireworks Gala and the 23rd Mawei-Matsu Lantern Festival Celebration. People from both sides of the Taiwan Strait celebrated the Year of the Snake together, boosting the recovery of Fujian-Taiwan tourism.
“This lantern festival is truly beautiful,” said “Taiwan Dandan,” an influencer from Taiwan’s Kaohsiung at the Mazu-themed lantern display. She noted that Mazu (sea goddess) is widely celebrated across Taiwan.
Visitors appreciate the 23rd Mawei-Matsu Lantern Festival Celebration in the Mawei District of Fuzhou City (Photo:China News Service/Wang Dongming)
During the Spring Festival holiday, the “Most Charming Fuzhou · Influencer Tour” brought 24 influencers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to Fuzhou. The event offered a festive experience for cross-strait audience, attracting over 20 million online participants. Meanwhile, among on-site activities, Taiwanese visitors made up about 15 percent of the total attendees at the lantern festival.
Additionally, the tourism industry in Fujian, in collaboration with several Taiwanese travel agencies, launched special tour routes including the “Fujian-Taiwan Cultural Discovery Tour”. These routes connect attractions like Fujian’s Tulou (a type of Chinese rural dwellings) and Mount Wuyi with Taiwan’s mountainous Alishan area and Riyue Tan, or the Sun Moon Lake, highlighting new opportunities for Fujian-Taiwan tourism cooperation.
According to statistics, during the Spring Festival holiday, “Mini Three Links”, which refers to direct trade, postal and transport services between Kinmen, Mastu and Fujian, handled over 50,000 inbound and outbound travelers, with daily passenger traffic increasing by approximately 30.3 percent compared to January.
Ctrip data showed inbound tourism bookings for Fujian increased by 40 percent year-on-year, with most visitors coming from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Taiwan Region, Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia.