Camping, niche tours form trends in holiday

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 2, 2022 shows tourists enjoying themselves at a swimming pool during the week-long National Day holiday in Chengbei Village, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Xie Shangguo/Xinhua)

422 million people traveled across China during the National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7. Tours to surrounding areas were favored by Chinese residents; suburban campsites and niche tourist attractions also thrived.

Local tours remain first choice

Most citizens preferred local and surrounding tours in this holiday, while inter-provincial and inter-city tours dropped by 14.4 and 9.5 percentage points, respectively.

According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, the proportion of tourists visiting suburban parks, rural villages around cities, and urban parks ranked in the top three, accounting for 23.8%, 22.6%, and 16.8%, respectively.

The traveling radius was shortened during this Golden Week, but tourist activities became more flexible in response to the call to reduce unnecessary flow, said Deng Ning, deputy dean of the School of Tourism Management at Beijing International Studies University.

Suburban camping in fashion

The camping economy continues to flourish, fueled by the getting-around trend.

Data from C-trip (one of the largest Chinese online travel agents) suggest that camping orders increased more than tenfold during the holiday, with orders within the city accounting for nearly 80%.

Citizens from Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, and Zhejiang preferred long-term camping, with shanghai campers accounting for 46%. Of all campers, parent-child campers made up 30% and overnight ones 83%.

Because autumn is the best season for camping, tourists enjoyed the idyllic scenery and participated in harvest activities in country parks and farmlands.

Traveling preferences became more differentiated. Especially in the first-tier cities, while five-star hotels, high-end homestays and resorts were fully occupied, the camping industry was also in full swing. Tourists had their own choices.

 

Tourists take boat tour during the week-long National Day holiday at Baofenghu scenic area in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province, Oct. 2, 2022. (Photo by Wu Yongbing/Xinhua)

Small cities visited by more

The holiday saw tourist flow from major cities to minor towns form a new trend among the younger generation.

Many young people flocked to small cities to experience high-end hotel services at affordable prices. Orders for high-end hotels increased by 40% year-on-year.

Bookings of hotel rooms in once unpopular cities increased by more than 30% compared with the same period in 2021, according to Qunar, a Chinese-language online travel information provider.

Outdoor exercises catch on

Outdoor enthusiasts preferred short-distance trips in the national holiday, such as 2-3 days of mountaineering and hiking tours in the surrounding.

Statistics from C-trip showed that orders for outdoor activities in Zhejiang, Beijing, Guangdong and other places rose dramatically. The most popular destinations were Yunnan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Sichuan.

In addition, young people are becoming increasingly interested in sports tours. Emerging urban sports, such as Frisbee, kayaking, and cycling, boosted the sales of related products by 425% year on year.

On the Qunar Travel App, searches for cycling, hiking, boating, skiing, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities upped by 200% month over month.

Source: China News Service and 21st Century Business Herald; Trans-editing Guo Yao