Thailand has become a popular destination again, with multiple tourism product bookings during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holidays far exceeding those before the pandemic

The recent summer season has seen the tourism market as hot as the weather. With the upcoming Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, related tourism product bookings continue to rise. According to data from multiple online travel platforms, the booking volume of long-term travel during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday is growing rapidly, with some niche destinations performing well, and the booking volume of outbound products is rapidly increasing.

Comprehensive recovery of the tourism market

The bustling airports, train stations, and bustling scenic spots have become vivid evidence of the recovery of the tourism market. The China Tourism Research Institute estimates that this summer, the number of domestic tourists in China reached 1.839 billion, achieving a domestic tourism revenue of 1.21 trillion yuan, and the number of tourists received by most destinations reached a historical high.

Parent child families are the main force in the summer tourism market. According to data from Ctrip Travel Network, families are the fastest-growing group in summer air ticket orders for travel, with an increase of over 50% in order volume compared to the same period in 2019. Among them, parent-child travel air ticket orders have the highest increase, with a 56% increase compared to the same period in 2019. Study tour is a popular summer product, and on Feizhu Travel website, the search volume for study tour has increased by more than 2.3 times compared to last summer.

The overlapping effect of cultural and tourism integration is prominent. From July to August, many second - and third tier cities have become venues for large-scale performance projects. Going to a city for a performance, concerts, and music festivals drive a large number of people to flow across regions. For example, the first Bubble Island Music Festival held in Tianjin in July had a live audience of over 60000 people, of which about 70% came from Beijing, Hebei, and other regions. The performance not only brings in ticket revenue, but also generates a clustering effect in a short period of time, driving consumption growth in various fields such as tourism, transportation, accommodation, catering, and shopping.

According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, the number of performances, box office revenue, and number of viewers for summer tourism performances this year have increased by 235.34%, 496.20%, and 717.85% respectively compared to the same period last year. The strong demand for travel is the main reason for the popularity of tourism performance projects. Traditional tourism performance projects present many new hotspots, and the cooperation between tourist attractions and performance institutions is more in-depth.

Currently, as the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holidays approach, the tourism market is once again booming. On the Ctrip platform, as of September 6th, the booking volume of domestic tourism products has increased nearly five times compared to the same period last year, and the weekly growth of business formats such as air tickets and homestays has exceeded 50%. The ticket prices of scenic spots have doubled. According to data from Feizhu Travel Network, the booking volume of domestic tourism products during holidays has increased nearly 6 times year-on-year. The booking volume of multiple domestic tourism categories such as hotels, group tours, scenic spot tickets, and car rentals has far exceeded the same period in 2019.

"Multiple, multidimensional, and continuous data indicate that the tourism economy has irreversibly begun to recover," said Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Research Institute.

Long term travel bookings are highly popular

The surge in consumer demand has driven up booking prices. On the Ctrip platform, the average domestic air ticket price for the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday is 1293 yuan, an increase of 20% compared to the summer season. According to data from Tongcheng Travel Network, as of September 12th, the average ticket price for travel during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday has increased by 13% compared to the May Day holiday. In addition to the increase in ticket prices, the longer travel radius is also an important reason for the increase in average ticket prices.

The 8-day super long holiday has increased the popularity of booking long-distance trips. According to data from the Ctrip platform, the proportion of air tickets and hotel bookings for cross provincial tours during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday reached 84%, an increase of 30 percentage points year-on-year. Long term travel destinations are mainly concentrated in northwest regions such as Burqin, Urumqi, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, or in southern regions such as Sanya, Guangzhou, and Xiamen. According to Feizhu data, the proportion of cross provincial travel orders during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday exceeds 80%, and many places such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Chengdu have become popular destinations for domestic travel.

According to Liu Yang, the Chief Business Officer of Tujia Homestay, the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are a period of concentrated travel for all age groups. The concentrated release of long-term travel demand will usher in a new explosive cycle in the homestay market. From a regional perspective, tourist destinations in the north may experience a slight cooling, while tourist destinations in the south are about to begin their efforts. "During the 'Eleven' period, Tujia will focus on regulating homestay services and performance issues such as no room in store, price increases, false transactions, and false reviews, in order to ensure the check-in experience for tourists." Liu Yang said.

During holidays, popular destinations often experience crowds of tourists. During this holiday, many people choose to travel in the opposite direction, heading to niche destinations with lower costs and higher comfort. On the Ctrip platform, the order volume in Shangri La, Jingdezhen, Anji, Nanyang, Changzhou, Foshan, Huai'an, Yanji, Jieyang, Antu and other places exceeded the 2019 National Day holiday by more than twice. On the Tujia platform, the booking volume of Yanbian homestays during holidays has increased by 25 times, and the booking volume of homestays in Changzhou, Fuzhou, Luoyang and other places has increased by more than 10 times.

Outbound tourism is expected to reach its peak

According to statistics from the National Immigration Administration, from July 1st to August 29th, the entry and exit management agencies of public security organs in China issued a total of 3.42 million ordinary passports, 18.585 million Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan travel permits and endorsements, an increase of 7.1% and 27.5% respectively compared to the previous period; The national border inspection authorities inspected a total of 82.413 million inbound and outbound personnel, a month on month increase of 19.88%. The demand for Chinese citizens to apply for entry and exit documents is constantly increasing, with a significant increase in inbound and outbound passenger flow. The inbound and outbound tourism market is showing a synchronous recovery trend.

In August of this year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the resumption of national travel agencies and online tourism enterprises operating Chinese citizens to travel abroad as a group to relevant countries and regions. The number of destination countries and regions on the three lists expanded to 138, and the tourism popularity of these destinations immediately increased. "Due to the time cycle required for tourism planning and visa processing, the outbound tourism market only rapidly heats up during the summer season. We expect the outbound tourism market to experience a small peak in passenger flow during this year's Mid Autumn and National Day holidays," said Cheng Chaogong, Chief Researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute.

On September 13th, Thailand announced a 5-month visa free policy for Chinese tourists. According to big data from Qunar Travel Network, after the policy was released, the search volume for Thai air tickets on the platform increased by more than 70% compared to the same time last week, and the search volume for Thai hotels doubled compared to the previous week. On the Ctrip platform, the search popularity for outbound air tickets during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday has recovered by nearly 100% compared to the same period in 2019. The main search destinations for outbound air tickets are Thailand, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. On the flying pig platform, the number of outbound travel product bookings has increased by more than 20 times year-on-year. The distance of outbound travel has gradually expanded from the "4-hour flight circle". Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia and other countries have become popular outbound travel countries, while Egypt, New Zealand, Vietnam, Türkiye, Spain and other countries have seen the fastest growth.

It is worth noting that overseas niche destinations are also becoming increasingly popular. On the Ctrip platform, niche and long-term tourism destinations represented by New Zealand, Switzerland, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye stand out, and hotel search popularity has increased significantly compared with the same period in 2019. According to data from Tongcheng Travel, the popularity of relatively niche outbound destinations such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East has grown rapidly. As of September 12th, some popular vacation products for the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in related areas have been sold out.