Air cargo rates from China saw a parallel surge in the final full week ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 10, according to the latest figures from WorldACD Market Data, as shippers rush to get goods shipped before the holiday period, according to an Asian Aviation blog Monday.

According to data from WorldACD, an Amsterdam-based air cargo market data provider, rates for air cargo shipments from China to Europe rose by 8 percent week on week in week 5 of 2024 (Jan. 29 to Feb. 4).

The boom is shared by both sides of Eurasia. During a concert celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Berlin on Jan. 31, Berlin resident Carola Busch expressed her enthusiasm for China's visa-free policy in an interview with Xinhua.

"The visa-free policy in China is awesome. It's amazing to visit other countries, and it's very important that the whole world is in friendship," she said.

Busch visited China four years ago, exploring Beijing and Chengdu. She vividly recalls the scenery of Mount Emei and loves Chinese Kung Fu, describing it as a martial art that combines aesthetics and practicality.

"It would be even better if the visa-free period could be extended. One could spend a lifetime in China!" she concluded.

More Europeans like Busch are traveling to China, especially after China applied a visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from five European countries in December and expanded it to Switzerland and Ireland in January.

People are getting on board. The economy class seat occupancy rate for Hainan Airlines' HU490 Berlin to Beijing flight in February has exceeded 80 percent, for example. The airline is thus planning to increase its direct Beijing-Berlin service from three to five times per week starting from April 2024.

At Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Jan van Erve, the founder and CEO of Dutch Erving Entertainment and Support B.V., along with the company's creative director Michiel Florusse, is about to board a flight to China.

They are in the process of preparing for the National Ballet of China (NBC) European tour, including the Netherlands, in collaboration with Chinese business partners, he said, adding that they intentionally chose to kick off their ticket sale on Feb. 10, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Van Erve said that the visa-free policy helps business and tourism. "It's easier to book now, than you have to go through a whole process to get a visa. So I think it's very good that it's happening and I hope that it's successful to continue such a thing."

The spark of the Lunar New Year tourism revival between China and Europe is expected to flare and flame. Visa-free policies and optimistic projections signal a flourishing Year of the Dragon for the people-to-people exchange between the two sides.