Super golden week accelerates recovery of domestic market

"I've asked for a 4-day leave, and with the weekend, the National Day holiday (Oct. 1-6) and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays (two days) combined, I have a total of 14 days off,” said Ms. Sun, who works in Shanghai. “I plan to go on vacation to Hainan with my family."

The upcoming super golden holiday week, an 8-day holiday period during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, is expected to bring a surge in tourism, accelerating the recovery of the domestic consumer market. Data from multiple travel platforms shows that travel demand during this holiday has been steadily increasing.

According to data from Meituan and Dazhong Dianping, two online platforms that offers an integral service of touring, dining and accommodating, consumer travel orders on their platforms have more than doubled compared to 2019.

Watching sports events, performances, and collecting travel stamps have become new consumption trends during this year's National Day holiday. Data from Fliggy (Alibaba's travel platform) shows that the booking volume for domestic travel products during the National Day holiday has increased nearly sixfold compared to that of last year. These include hotel bookings, group tours, scenic area tickets, and car rentals, among other categories, all surpassing the levels seen during the same period in 2019.

"At present, the recovery of the tourism industry has become a must trend, and it is already stabilized," said Wei Pengju, dean of the Cultural and Economic Research Institute at the Central University of Finance and Economics. He believes that tourism will continue to be more and more popular during the holiday.

Data from Tuniu, an online platform offering tour services, shows that destinations such as Hainan, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Gansu province have attracted more long-haul travelers. Travelers prefer leisure vacations, autumn photography in tours, and nighttime moonlight-enjoying tours.

"After the National Day holiday, sports and leisure activities, like tourism and entertainment, will maintain high popularity," Wei said. He believes that this will boost consumer confidence and contribute to the overall high-quality development of the economy in China.

Source: People's Daily Online