Chinese tourists favor private, short-distance trips for national holiday

A child waves the Chinese national flag while posing for photos on a bridge in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Oct. 2, 2021.(Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- During this year's weeklong National Day holiday, which kicked off last Friday, Chinese tourists have shown a marked preference for short-distance travel and driving tours, data from online travel service platforms showed.

Search queries about "short-distance trips" have surged by over 250 percent year on year in 2021, according to Chinese travel service and social networking platform Mafengwo.

The platform added that homestays, camping and hot springs are the most popular ways for people to spend their holidays on the road.

The number of searches for "camping" tripled before the start of the holiday, it said.

Due to COVID-19 prevention measures, driving tours with friends or family are also popular among tourists, according to Lvmama, an online travel agency.

Another online travel agency Tuniu said small travel groups with six or fewer people accounted for about half of the orders they received this holiday, highlighting the market's greater demand for high-quality services and experiences.