China Net Finance, April 18 - The "May Day" holiday is approaching, and many people have already arranged their holiday itinerary in advance. According to the holiday arrangement, this year's "May Day" holiday date is from May 1 to May 5, a total of 5 days.
Tickets for the first day of the holiday are now on sale on April 17. With the sale of tickets on the first day, related topics such as "waiting for the ticket" and "the difficulty of buying tickets is comparable to that of the Spring Festival" have also rushed to the hot search.
The reporter learned from a number of travel platforms that the number of air ticket bookings during the holiday has exceeded that of 2023, and hotel bookings in some county markets increased by 68% year-on-year.
Tickets for some popular lines on the first day of the holiday have been sold out
During the long holiday, the difficulty of grabbing train tickets has greatly increased. According to the regulations of the railway department to sell tickets 15 days in advance, tickets for the day before the "May Day" holiday (April 30) have been opened on April 16, and tickets for the first day of the holiday can be purchased on April 17.
After opening up for ticket purchase, China Net Finance noticed that many netizens said that "I don't need a second, the countdown will be sold out" and "it will be grayed out directly, I haven't even seen the word "ticket". In addition, related topics such as "12306 seconds", "12306 is on standby when the ticket is issued", "the difficulty of buying tickets on May Day is comparable to that of the Spring Festival" and other related topics have rushed to the hot search list.
Screenshot from Weibo
In response to the above situation, the person in charge of the passenger transport department of China Railway Group said that the "May Day" holiday passenger travel is highly concentrated, and the contradiction between capacity and demand is very prominent, resulting in a shortage of tickets in local areas and periods, especially on some popular directions of the line, some of the departure and arrival times are more suitable, and the whole journey time is shorter, which is the preferred travel plan for many passengers. "When these train tickets are on sale, due to the very high attention of the majority of passengers, passengers will choose 12306 online ticket purchase, mobile APP, station windows and other ticketing channels to quickly 'grab tickets', and there may be a 'second light' phenomenon. ”
To this end, the person in charge suggested that passengers choose off-peak travel according to the availability of tickets in different time periods and directions, and can also choose to purchase tickets by waitlist ticket purchase, transfer transfer, etc., so as to increase the success rate of ticket purchase. "The railway department will also dynamically optimize and adjust the train operation plan according to the railway 12306 advance ticket and standby ticket purchase data, and increase the number of passenger trains on popular routes, directions and time periods in a timely manner, and strive to meet the holiday travel needs of passengers. ”
Judging from the sales of tickets, taking Beijing as an example, tickets for popular routes departing from Beijing to Shanghai, Luoyang, Chongqing, Xi'an and other places on the first day of the holiday have been sold out.
Tongcheng travel data shows that train tickets departing on April 30 are on sale, and tickets for popular routes such as Beijing-Luoyang, Beijing-Zibo, and Beijing-Changchun are "seconds", while train tickets from first-tier cities such as Beijing-Xi'an and Shanghai-Wuhan to core cities in the central and western regions are the most in demand.
According to a report recently released by Qunar, from the perspective of Qunar train ticket reservations, popular destinations are Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhengzhou, and Hangzhou. There is a greater flow of tourists between large cities and tourist cities.
The sale of train tickets is also the peak of air ticket bookings. On the Qunar platform, 15 days before the holiday, the number of advance bookings for air tickets during the "May Day" period has exceeded that of 2023. From Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin and other major cities, the average price paid for air tickets to tourist cities is higher, and some flights on popular routes such as Beijing-Chengdu and Shanghai-Kunming have been raised to full price.
According to the "2024 May Day Travel Trend Insight Report" released by Ctrip, as of April 15, popular routes such as Guangzhou-Beijing, Chengdu-Hangzhou, and Beijing-Chengdu have increased by about 1% year-on-year, and air ticket prices such as Kunming-Chengdu, Xiamen-Shanghai, Tianjin-Chengdu, and Beijing-Sanya have dropped significantly, down by about 3% year-on-year. Although the overall average price of domestic air tickets decreased slightly year-on-year, it increased by about 4% compared with this year's Qingming holiday.
Hotel bookings in the county market increased significantly year-on-year
With the improvement of infrastructure and tourism reception capacity in various places, more and more tourist destinations in lower-tier markets are welcomed. According to Ctrip's report, Tianshui, Xuzhou, Zibo, Hefei, Nanchang, Diqing, Jingdezhen, Shijiazhuang, Yantai, Huangshan and other cities have become the cities with the fastest growth rate in hotel bookings for the May Day holiday.
Fourth-tier cities and below, especially county-level (county towns and county-level cities), have seen significant growth in the tourism market, bringing new increments. According to Ctrip data, hotel bookings in the county market during the May Day holiday increased by 68% year-on-year, and scenic spot ticket orders increased by 151% year-on-year, which was higher than the national market. Cities such as Tumshuke, Baoshan, Huaihua, Chifeng, Hotan, and Heze with regional airports have seen a significant year-on-year increase in air ticket bookings, most of which exceed 5 percent.
Pingtan in Fujian, Yangshuo in Guangxi, Anji in Zhejiang, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Chun'an in Zhejiang, Zhengding in Hebei, Jinghong in Yunnan, Deqing in Zhejiang, Shangri-La in Yunnan, and Dunhuang in Gansu are popular county tourist destinations. Among them, Pingtan in Fujian Province ushered in the dream scene of "blue tears" from April to June, and many tourists will go to "chase tears".
Tongcheng Travel mentioned that compared with core cities, the popularity of tickets and air tickets for the May Day holiday to third-tier cities and below has increased relatively more. According to the data released by the platform, the popularity of train tickets and air tickets arriving in third-tier cities and below (including county-level cities) on April 29 and 30 increased by more than 200% week-on-week.
Outbound travel is booming
Due to the relatively long "May Day" holiday, outbound travel has also become a popular choice for many people to travel during the holidays.
Ctrip's visa data shows that outbound travel visas for the May Day holiday have increased significantly since late February, with a month-on-month increase of more than 3 times in the week after the Spring Festival, and a steady increase of 50% per week. Judging from the current number of visa applicants, the number of visa applicants during the "May Day" holiday has increased by more than 3% year-on-year, and the transaction volume has exceeded that of the same period in 2019.
In terms of destinations, Ctrip's report mentions that Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Indonesia, Australia, France, and Vietnam are popular outbound countries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" have a higher year-on-year growth rate. Up to now, the international cruise ships departing from Shanghai and Xiamen on May Day have been basically sold out, and the order GMV has reached more than 1.5 times that of the same period in 2019.
Zhongxin Tourism said that due to the recovery of the supply chain and the favorable visa-free destinations, the total number of outbound travel products of Zhongxin Tourism increased by 200% compared with the same period last year. So far, the number of tourists has increased by about 370% compared to the same period last year. From the perspective of outbound travel destinations: in terms of short-term, Japan, Thailand and Dubai have become the top three short-term destinations during the holiday. In the long term, tourist destinations across Europe are growing rapidly.
Qunar data shows that Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore are among the top five destinations. Not only are popular visa-free destinations such as "New Malaysia-Thailand", but also niche routes such as the 7-day tour of Murmansk in Russia, the 7-day tour of Athens + Santorini + Zzhinsos + Peloponnese, and the 7-day tour of the Iberian Peninsula are also booked by travelers.
(Editor in charge: Zhu He)