Local trips gain popularity during National Day holiday

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- How have Chinese people spent their National Day holiday over the last week? Online travel platforms say that local and short-distance trips have become a new leisure trend this year.

On the premise of COVID-19 prevention and control, the most popular options for Chinese residents now include camping, frisbee games, cycling and visiting local attractions.

During the weeklong holiday, local and short-distance travel orders accounted for 65 percent of all travel purchases, and per capita spending on such trips increased by nearly 30 percent from last year, according to a report released by online travel agency Trip.com Group on Friday.

Trip.com's data also shows that ticket orders for local and surrounding scenic attractions accounted for nearly 80 percent of all such orders.

Take Beijing as an example. Happy Valley Beijing, Beijing WTown, Baiwangshan Forest Park and other local attractions have become Beijing residents' main choices for their holiday.

In addition to tourist attractions, enthusiasm for camping has climbed to a new level.

The Trip.com report said that camping orders increased more than 10 times from the same period last year, with local orders accounting for nearly 80 percent of the total, while 15 percent of the orders were from surrounding areas.

"We booked tents in advance to bring our family for an amazing camping experience, appreciating the sunrise in the morning and counting stars at night. The kids loved it," said Zhou Qiao, a resident from Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province who visited the Yichang Bailihuang tourist resort.

As for urban tourism, Ministry of Culture and Tourism official Li Xiaoyong said before the holiday that the ministry would provide more offline programs, cloud exhibitions and other non-contact, low-crowd cultural and tourism products.

Public cultural institutions such as museums, libraries and cultural centers were required to ensure adequate activities and improved services quality while strictly implementing COVID-19 prevention and control measures, Li said.

Sales related to new urban sports such as frisbee games, kayaking and cycling skyrocketed 425 percent year on year during the holiday, according to the report.

More personalized activities have gained popularity as well. In a user survey conducted by China's leading e-commerce platform Meituan, 90 percent of users said they preferred less popular and less crowded places and games, mainly because they are "more exploratory and fun."

"Personalized tourism is the inevitable trend of tourism development and economic development," said Dai Xuefeng, a tourism analyst at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "With the gradual maturity of tourism, the Chinese economy has been able to provide more adequate services for tourists."