LY.com, a Chinese on-line tourist service conglomerate, recently released the 2025 Forecast Report on Travel Trends During Dragon Boat Festival Holiday, listing Suzhou as one of China’s top 10 most popular folk culture and self-drive travel destinations thanks to the Jinji Lake Dragon Boat Race that will kick off on the first day of the holiday.

The Jinji Lake Dragon Boat Race is held in SIP annually to celebrate the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival which, reckoned on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, will fall on May 31 this year. In addition to a succession of dragon boat races, it is usually paired with diverse activities where participants can gain a better knowledge of the festival and related traditions.

As the first traditional Chinese festival inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Dragon Boat Festival has gained wide popularity globally. The report records a significant surge in online searches related to “dragon boat” and “zongzi (a traditional food that Chinese eat around the festival)” in recent weeks.

Source: Gusu Evening News, May 26, 2025