The National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival tourism market witnessed a rise in both volume and prices, with some travel agencies seeing post-holiday off-peak tour prices drop by 20% to 30%.

Cailian News, October 8th, by reporter Hu Haoqiong: This year’s combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is nearing its end. The “take 3 days off, enjoy 12” policy has driven strong demand for long-haul travel. Data from multiple OTA platforms indicate a notable increase in domestic and outbound travel orders.

Among them, according to Ctrip, the proportion of domestic long-distance travel orders increased by three percentage points compared to last year. Outbound long-haul travel also gained popularity among tourists, with bookings for several European destinations doubling. Meanwhile, Qunar reported that hotel reservations in popular domestic cities rose more than 20% year-over-year, while outbound flight bookings to popular international destinations surged over 30%.

According to Ctrip’s data, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Xi’an, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Qingdao were among the most sought-after domestic destinations. Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore became popular outbound destinations due to their proximity and convenient visa policies. Orders for in-depth European tours also showed marked growth, with outbound bookings for Iceland and Norway doubling year-over-year, while bookings for Spain, Italy, and Germany increased by approximately 70%.

Furthermore, data from Tongcheng Travel’s offline stores revealed that during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, outbound long-haul group tours grew nearly twofold year-over-year, significantly outpacing short-haul outbound group tours. Non-first-tier city users booked Europe group tour products at a growth rate exceeding 140% year-over-year, while bookings for Americas group tours grew by over 32%.

Notably, this year’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival witnessed an increase in average spending per tourist. Fliggy data shows that average spending during the holiday period rose by 14.6% year-over-year. According to Spring Tour, the average spending per order during the holiday period increased by around 20%. A relevant representative from Spring Tour stated, “This reflects peak-season travelers’ greater willingness to embrace high-quality, in-depth tourism experiences.”

Following the holiday, a longer off-season period will ensue, leading to a decline in domestic travel prices. Some travel agencies have begun planning New Year’s Eve dinner products for the upcoming Spring Festival.

Cailian News learned from Guangzhilv, a subsidiary of Lingnan Holdings (000524.SZ), that product prices across the National Day holiday period were generally higher than regular schedules, with significant price drops after the holiday. Price reductions ranged between 20% and 30%, with some popular routes experiencing declines exceeding 50%.

Spring Tour will kick off advance sales for the 2026 New Year’s Eve dinners following the holiday. The packages include offerings from nearly 30 hotels in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region, including Hilton Worldwide in Songjiang, Shanghai.

Overall, Zhou Weihong, Deputy General Manager of Spring Tour, noted that the overlap of the 2025 National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays played a key role in boosting the holiday travel market, contributing to a “volume and price surge.” Post-holiday off-peak travel further highlights the vibrancy of cultural and tourism consumption.

As of before the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, the order volume for long-haul outbound travel to destinations such as Spain, Greece, and Turkey during the post-Spring Tourism Festival off-peak period has doubled year-on-year.