Mid-Autumn Festival + National Day, the 8-day Super Golden Week is about to create a new tourism peak. On September 13, Ctrip released the Mid-Autumn Festival National Day Tourism Forecast Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). According to the report, as of September 13, both domestic and outbound travel have become popular, air tickets, scenic spots, hotels, group tours and other products have entered the peak booking period, and popular room types in some popular tourist resorts and Internet celebrity homestays have been "difficult to find".
Domestic travel orders increased by more than 4 times year-on-year
Outbound travel orders increased nearly 20 times
According to Ctrip's report, the number of bookings for domestic travel products on the November Day increased by 88% from the previous week and more than 4 times year-on-year. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Changsha are the top ten popular tourist destinations for National Day. Due to the Asian Games, the overall booking volume of "Eleventh" in Hangzhou increased by more than 5 times year-on-year, of which air ticket bookings increased by nearly 5 times year-on-year, and hotel bookings increased by more than 8 times year-on-year.
In addition, the growth rate of bookings in "new first-tier" cities such as Tianjin, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Suzhou was also relatively high, all of which increased by more than 5 times over the same period last year. Among them, Tianjin has frequently brushed the screen this year, and tourism orders have increased by 8 times compared with last year.
The long holiday provides favorable conditions for the popularity of long-term travel, and the long-term tourism market is expected to continue the summer heat. On November 2023, the proportion of inter-provincial travel orders will reach 73%, an increase of 10 percentage points over the same period in 2022, and nearly 20% of users choose to stay for 3 consecutive days or more. Popular destinations for long-term travel are mainly in the northwest region suitable for autumn tourism, such as Burjin, Urumqi, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, as well as Sanya, Guangzhou and Xiamen in southern China.
As the first long holiday after the basic liberalization of outbound tourism, outbound tourism also ushered in a spurt of growth, with overall orders during the November period increasing by nearly 20 times year-on-year. Popular countries to travel abroad include Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and more.
On September 13, after Thailand announced a five-month visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, Ctrip's data showed that Thailand-related search popularity soared by 800%. It is expected that more Chinese mainland tourists will visit Thailand in the November and fourth quarters, and Thailand is expected to become the "top stream" of outbound tourism during the National Day holiday.
In addition, countries along the "Belt and Road" "niche circle" on the National Day, Uzbekistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Kenya and other group tour orders increased the highest compared with the same period before.
It is worth noting that users' consumption concept of outbound travel has gradually changed, and they are more willing to pay for in-depth experience and high-quality services, so private groups with independent groups and flexible personalities are more popular among users on National Day. According to the report, the orders of outbound private groups on National Day increased by more than 2 times compared with the summer vacation in August.
"Small" in the big
Music festivals, events, musical and dance dramas and other small touchpoints inspire travel wishes
While accelerating the recovery of China's tourism industry, it is also actively adjusting, transforming and upgrading based on user and market demand. From the demand side, with the diversification of people's lifestyles and consumption concepts, in addition to regular check-in and photo tours, the contact points that stimulate tourists to travel are getting smaller and smaller, and a video, a meal, a music festival, and an event may all promote a "walk-and-go" trip.
In this context, concerts, music festivals, marathons, etc. were held during the November period, which became a significant driving force for tourism growth. On October 2, Jiayuguan City will hold the 2023 Great Wall Marathon and the "Great Wall League" launch event, with 5,000 people expected to participate, which will drive Jiayuguan tourism orders to increase by more than 6 times year-on-year. Among them, during the November period, the number of air ticket bookings in Jiayuguan increased by nearly 3 times year-on-year, and hotel orders increased by 7 times year-on-year.
From September 29th, Nanyang will hold a 3-day and 4-night Midi Music Festival. Many young people and band fans regard Nanyang as their first choice for November outings, which has led to an 11-fold year-on-year increase in overall bookings for Nanyang's "Eleventh Day", and a double-digit increase over the same period in 2019. Among them, hotel bookings reached 153 times the same period last year.
From October 2nd to 7th, the phenomenal cultural IP dance poetry drama "Only This Green Green" will be performed for eight consecutive performances at the Chengdu City Concert Hall, which has led to a nearly 7-fold year-on-year increase in hotel bookings in the vicinity.
Change from the crowd to "from the heart"
Niche "headwind travel" continues to lead the new trend of tourism
From the supply side, small and beautiful niche destinations are on the rise. From the TV series "Crazy" with the fire of Jiangmen, to Zibo barbecue and Xuchang fat to the east, third- and fourth-tier cities have become dark horses for tourism this year, attracting tourists from all over the world to check in. During November this year, this momentum will continue, while big cities and big attractions continue to be popular, a number of small but beautiful destinations are rising.
Zibo, Yanbian, Fangchenggang, Jiuquan, Nanyang, Guangyuan, Chengde, Yichun, Qufu, Ulanqab and other prefecture-level cities have a year-on-year increase in bookings of more than 10 times that of last year's "Eleventh".
As a tourism consumption node for people of all ages, "Eleven" is also the peak of family travel, and immersive, health-preserving anti-special forces tourism is the first choice for many families. For tourists who want to avoid peaks and avoid "crowds", Ctrip recommends that while traveling at different peaks, you can also consider "unpopular" destinations with beautiful scenery, abundant tourism resources and low costs.
Ctrip's search popularity data shows that as of September 12, there are small but beautiful destinations such as Yichun, the "Moon Capital", Baise "Guangxi Small Xinjiang", Wushan "Little Three Gorges", Lincang "World Wa Township", "World Tea Source, and China's Coffee Capital", and the overall order scale is not large, and National Day bookings are not congested, which is suitable for avoiding the "crowd" of tourists.
Taking Pu'er as an example, it is one of the niche destinations in Yunnan, a major tourist province, but its superior ecological environment and unique ethnic minority culture are attracting more and more tourists. At present, the 45th enlarged meeting of the World Heritage Committee is being held in Saudi Arabia, which will consider China's only nomination project, the Pu'er Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape, which is expected to have the world's first tea culture World Heritage Site.
As an important tourism consumption node in the second half of the year, "Eleventh" is related to the recovery results of the tourism industry throughout the year. In order to better stimulate tourism consumption on the 11th November, Ctrip launched discounts such as popular hotels with as low as 2% off and special air tickets from 1.4% off during the 919 Global Travel Bargain Festival, and promoted customized products and services for consumers with themes such as grassland, autumn viewing, parent-child, ancient town, and seaside. At the same time, Ctrip has broken down group travel into 70 segments, and is committed to standardizing and transparent group travel services, providing Ctrip's self-operated service SOP, including a travel early warning mechanism and an emergency assistance system, etc., to ensure tourists' "11th" travel experience.
The relevant person in charge of Ctrip said that with the recovery of tourism, the tourism industry is also iteratively upgrading, from the supply side to the demand side, new changes are taking place, which requires the attention of practitioners. In the process of transformation, upgrading and high-quality development, Ctrip will always adhere to the customer-centric approach, and continue to bring tourists a beautiful itinerary with assured service and assured price.
Source: Political and Legal Channel