October 7 marked the close of the National Day holiday period. For many travelers who took advantage of the "take 3 days off, enjoy 13 days" strategy by bridging the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, this was also the final day of an exceptionally long vacation.
Holiday review reports released by platforms including Trip.com, Qunar, Tongcheng Travel and Fliggy show that this "super golden week" not only saw travel enthusiasm notably higher than in previous years, but also underwent profound changes in consumption structure, destination flows and travel formats.
The extended break gave many people richer choices for their trips, and their spending patterns shifted significantly: departing during off-peak windows saved on transportation costs, while on-the-ground spending far exceeded travel expenses. The long holiday turned "going to the counties" from a counter-trend into a mainstream trend, with small and medium-sized cities emerging as the biggest winners of the extended holiday.
On-Site Spending Far Outpaces Travel Costs: Savings on Flights Spent at Destinations
"I only spent just over 800 yuan on flights, but 4,000 yuan on accommodation, an estimated 3,500 yuan on car rental and fuel, and about 3,000 yuan on meals, attractions and shopping," said Shen Yuan, a product manager working in Beijing who chose to take leave and depart early on September 28 to avoid the peak. Although he saved more than 1,000 yuan on airfare, his total trip expenses still exceeded 10,000 yuan. He admitted: "It was actually a bit more expensive than my trip last National Day, but the time I had, the experience and the depth of the trip were genuinely so much better."
Shen Yuan's holiday budget is not an isolated case. According to Qunar data, users who departed early before the holiday enjoyed flight prices about 20% cheaper on average, yet their total spending on flights, hotels and tickets on the platform was actually 13% higher than other users. They stayed an average of more than 5 days in hotels, booked 40% more high-star hotels than other users, and were 35% more likely to book hotels in two or more cities. Money saved on the road ultimately was spent at the destination.
Trip.com data corroborates this trend as well. Average prices per room per night and per ticket during the Mid-Autumn segment (September 25–27) and the leave segment (September 28–30) were more than 30% and nearly 20% lower respectively than during the National Day segment, allowing tourists to spend less. Meanwhile, scenic spots and hotels had customers over more days; although unit prices were lower, foot traffic was higher, stays were longer, and revenue was more stable. Travel demand extended from just a few days around National Day to a full two weeks from Mid-Autumn to National Day, lengthening the business cycle for merchants.
According to Tongcheng Travel platform data, before the National Day holiday, Tongcheng successively integrated cultural tourism consumption voucher programs from more than 10 destinations including Guangdong Province and Suzhou City, with cumulative voucher amounts exceeding 60 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 325%. Most destinations' voucher programs covered the National Day holiday period, and "search for vouchers before ordering" became a money-saving trick for many consumers during their holiday travels. Sichuan Province, targeting the concentration of family groups during the golden week, launched cultural, tourism and sports consumption vouchers for the elderly and children; multiple cities increased the distribution of accommodation vouchers, effectively boosting hotel booking activity during the holiday.
From "overpaying" to "getting value," tourists' spending judgments are changing. Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar's Big Data Research Institute, analyzed: "Wanting to save money and spending more money are happening simultaneously, because people's judgment of 'is it worth it' has changed. Many tourists aren't unwilling to 'buy expensive things'—they just don't want to 'overpay.' On-site tourism spending far exceeding travel costs is a trend that better fits today's tourists' preference for 'spending money on experiences.'"
Small and Medium-Sized Cities Capture the Dividends: From "Counter-Trend Travel" to "County-Bound Travel"
"Counter-trend travel turned out to be lonely" became a hot topic of discussion during this year's holiday. Tourists wanting to visit small towns pushed scenic areas to their capacity limits; tourists wanting to escape major metropolises turned "going to the counties" from a counter-trend into a mainstream movement. Small and medium-sized cities are becoming one of the biggest winners of this extended holiday.
Trip.com data shows that from the perspective of place of residence, the share of scenic spot orders from eastern residents heading to tier-three and below cities rose from about 20% in 2024 to about 47%. Scenic spot orders from eastern tourists traveling across provinces to Tangshan, Zhongwei, Tai'an, Jingdezhen, Datong and Shangrao all grew by more than 100%. About two-thirds of scenic spot orders in Tibet and Xinjiang came from tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
The same applies to family travelers: the share of tier-three and below cities in family orders rose to about 42%, with Tangshan family scenic spot orders growing about threefold, while Changchun and Zhongwei grew nearly twofold. High-spending customers spent more and stayed longer in small and medium-sized cities, and were more likely to choose chartered cars and customized tours. Among Trip.com Diamond members' orders, the share of tier-three and below cities rose from about 28% to about 31%, with Gold Diamond and Diamond member orders leading growth across all membership tiers. In lower-tier cities, Diamond members spent about 3.4 times per room night compared to regular members, stayed about 0.4 more nights per trip, had about 5 times the share of chartered car tours and customized group tours in their orders compared to regular members, and their ticket orders grew by more than 50%.
Qunar told reporters that during the dual holidays, hotel booking activity in county towns grew 35% year-on-year, with platform users staying in hotels across more than a thousand county towns nationwide. Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Yangshuo in Guangxi, Burqin in Xinjiang, Antu in Jilin, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Pingtan in Fujian and Xiaojin in Sichuan were the top choices for county-level accommodation nationwide. Among them, hotel bookings in popular county towns in Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai-Gansu and western Sichuan increased by more than 50%.
The national top 10 popular scenic spots were all captured by small cities: Gexian Village in Shangrao, Jiangxi; Wuyuan Huangling in Shangrao, Jiangxi; Hetou Old Street in Tangshan, Hebei; Jiuzhaigou in Aba, Sichuan; Shapotou in Zhongwei, Ningxia; Wansuishan Martial Arts City in Kaifeng, Henan; Sanqingshan in Shangrao, Jiangxi; Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, Jiangsu; Langya Ancient City in Linyi, Shandong; and Huangshan in Anhui.
Tongcheng Travel platform analysis found that some relatively niche counties became "dark horses" with highly distinctive natural landscapes and cultural resources: Jiuquan's Lingchuan County saw hotel and travel booking activity grow more than 230% year-on-year, Xiuwu County grew more than 200%, Taibai County grew more than 130%, and Qilian County grew more than 100%. Qilian County's unique scenery featuring snow-capped mountains, Danxia landforms and grasslands in a single frame became a holiday blockbuster, with local tourist arrivals at one point exceeding the county's total population, and hotels and guesthouses being "impossible to book."
Foreign tourists are also heading to small cities and border areas. Trip.com data shows that Zhangjiajie's inbound orders grew about 1.5 times, making it the only tier-five city in the top 10 inbound destinations and ranking third nationwide in inbound ticket orders; the share of inbound orders in tier-five cities rose to over 8%. Heihe's inbound orders grew about 1.3 times, with over 90% coming from Russia; Yanbian grew nearly threefold. The Chinese landscapes that match foreign tourists' imaginations and the convenience of border crossings have directly connected these cities to international visitor flows.
"Original Travel" Rises: From "I've Been There" to "I Can Do That"
Along with the rise of experience-based consumption, the spending trends of travelers during the National Day golden week are also changing, with internet-famous check-in spots and special forces-style travel beginning to fade. At the start of the holiday, Fliggy observed that "original travel" was taking over from "counter-trend travel" as the new travel trend. Compared to internet-famous check-in spots and man-made attractions, more and more tourists are choosing to stay in ancient villages, learn intangible cultural heritage crafts, and experience what a place is truly like.
The seven-day holiday further confirmed this trend: ancient village tours and class-based travel gained popularity. Driven by "original travel," bookings for natural scenery and village products on the Fliggy platform grew more than 40% year-on-year, with small cities like Kashgar, Baise, Haixi, Xuancheng and Wuwei leading in popularity. The number of users booking "ancient village" related products grew more than 90% year-on-year. Xiapu's Dongbi Village, Tonglu's Lutse Village and Conghua's Xitou Village, which gained popularity early in the holiday, maintained their momentum, while Anji's Yucun Village and Linzhou's Shibanyan Village also gained traction in the latter half. These villages have not been over-commercialized, allowing visitors to feel the joy of "being a local for a while."
"Class-based travel" featuring intangible cultural heritage handicraft experiences is another way to open the door to "original travel." Fliggy data shows that bookings for intangible cultural heritage handicraft experiences and related visits doubled year-on-year. Activities such as learning to make Huizhou ink in Huizhou, learning silver forging from intangible cultural heritage inheritors in Guizhou, experiencing Li ethnic bamboo weaving in Hainan, making birch bark paintings in Inner Mongolia, and rubbing Jiama prints in Tengchong are favored by more young people. The social currency of travel has shifted from "I've been there" to "I can do that."
Trip.com found that young tourists increasingly love culture. Among scenic spot bookings by tourists aged 20–25, the share of cultural scenic spots rose from about 41% in 2024 to about 48%; the growth rate of cultural scenic spot orders by tourists under 30 was about twice that of tourists over 30. Orders for famous historical sites and museums both grew by about 70%, ancient town and old street orders doubled, and orders for the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, Ningbo Tianyi Pavilion and Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage all grew by more than 100%. On Mid-Autumn Day itself, the share of night tour scenic spots in scenic spot orders rose to 44%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than two years ago; searches for "intangible cultural heritage" on Trip.com grew for two consecutive years, reaching 1.4 times the 2024 level this year.
New ways to play during the holiday go beyond "original travel"—"factory tours" are quietly emerging. Unlike traditional industrial tourism with display boards, the new generation of tourists heads straight to production workshops to see with their own eyes how rockets are built, how giant ships are welded, and how soda is bottled. Fliggy has successively launched industrial study tour products including the Huzhou rocket factory, Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard tours, Xi'an Bingfeng Soda Factory experience, Guangzhou new energy vehicle factory, and Sichuan Leshan Diechuan malt whisky distillery. The core appeal of these projects lies in the "shock factor" and the scarce experience of "getting in when you normally can't."
"Guest-star travel" is also a highlight of holiday tourism consumption. Fliggy data shows that ticket bookings for scenic spots featuring character interaction or immersive experiences grew 60% year-on-year. Scenic spots such as Wansuishan Martial Arts City, Hengdian World Studios, Qingming Shanghe Garden, Changzhou Eastern Salt Lake City and Linyi Langya Ancient City, with their high-density NPC interactions and storyline-based tour designs, transform visitors from bystanders into participants. The logic of scenic spots is changing—no longer a "stage to be watched" but a "storyline you can walk into."
The "take 3 days off, enjoy 13 days" extended golden week is quietly changing travel trends and consumption patterns. The complete 13-day period allows a trip to be planned farther, longer and deeper. Qunar's Big Data Research Institute analysis suggests that "on-site consumption" far exceeding travel costs is a more良性 and healthy development trend, allowing more travelers to spend real money on tangible cultural and tourism experiences. A more flexible vacation system reduces travel costs, optimizes travel experiences, and is stimulating more cultural tourism consumption.
Trip.com told reporters that this year's 13-day holiday allowed people for the first time to turn Mid-Autumn and National Day into one complete journey: going farther, staying longer, spending on experiences and spending in small and medium-sized cities. As flexible vacation arrangements are further implemented, the golden week is expected to become a more balanced and relaxed "golden season," providing more lasting support for expanding domestic demand, coordinated regional development and exchanges between China and other countries.