China's extended holiday set to boost long-haul travel, border crossings

BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays bring travelers a major bonus this year: extra time for longer journeys and extended stays.

Separated by three working days, the three-day and seven-day holiday periods can be bridged into a 13-day break running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 7.

REACHING FAROFF DESTINATIONS

For Shanghai white-collar worker Zheng Bing, the extended break means she can leave before the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 25 per the lunar calendar, and spend more time in Malaysia.

"This allows me to enjoy my vacation at a leisurely pace," said Zheng, whose plans mirror a wider desire for long-haul travel over the coming holiday.

Data from Chinese online travel platforms show that tours of 10 days or more are particularly popular, making up 26 percent of all bookings. Meanwhile, flight reservations for top international destinations have surged over 20 percent year on year.

"Sales for international packages with stays over 10 days are up from last year," said Wang Wei, president of the Shanghai-based Spring International Travel Service (Group) Co., Ltd.

Popular spots include Spain, Greece, Britain, Türkiye and Azerbaijan, the firm added.

China's National Immigration Administration expects an average of about 2.25 million cross-border trips per day during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from Sept. 25 to 27, and about 2.15 million per day during the National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7.

Sales of tour packages to domestic long-haul destinations are also gaining momentum. On Fliggy, Alibaba Group's online travel platform, reservations to such destinations, including Urumqi in northwest China's Xinjiang, Kunming in southwest Yunnan, and Sanya in the far southern island province of Hainan, have been on the rise.

Flight ticket bookings confirm this trend. According to data from Umetrip, a mobile platform for real-time flight information, the number of reservations for domestic flights flying over 2,000 km surpassed 1.74 million, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent.

EXPERIENCES OUTWEIGH CHECKLIST TOURS

Analysts said that more tourists are favoring special travel experiences, niche tourist destinations and customized packages, particularly when the upcoming super-long holiday makes such travel plans easier to enjoy.

"For younger tourists, how to spend a vacation matters more than where to spend it," said Yang Han, a researcher with online travel platform Qunar.

In the upcoming holidays, bookings for glacier hiking on Fliggy went up 50 percent from the previous year, skydiving up nearly 80 percent, and whale watching surged 200 percent.

Niche tourist destinations, such as lesser-known county-level towns, are attracting tourists. Online travel platform Tongcheng predicted that tourists will stay 3.2 days longer in county-level destinations on average compared with the same period last year.

Tourists are also discovering new sides of cities and towns beyond their famous landmarks or cultural heritage. On online travel platforms, hotel bookings and ticket reservations have surged in cities hosting concerts, sporting events and cultural activities.

QUALITY TOUR PACKAGES IN DEMAND

As more tourists opt for immersive, in-depth experiences rather than hurried sightseeing, they are also on the hunt for better accommodation and higher-quality travel services.

A longer holiday creates more room for tourism consumption, said Cheng Chaogong at Tongcheng. "Quality and experience will become key factors," Cheng noted.

The government is also on the move to make sure diverse cultural events and spending incentives are in place across the country.

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched a month-long national tourism promotion campaign on Sept. 22. While hosting more than 20,000 events spanning scenic trips, autumn outings, red tourism, study tours, night activities and local food to boost diverse premium tourism offerings, local governments are handing out some 310 million yuan (about 45.9 million U.S. dollars) in consumer vouchers and subsidies over the month as a way to spur tourism consumption.

Zheng is about to leave for Malaysia tonight. She's eagerly anticipating her unhurried but fulfilling holiday. "I could still have time to take a rest and check the air of festivity in Shanghai after the trip," she said.