More options for family summer vacations as demand grows in China

With the arrival of the summer vacation season, the demand for travel among young students has surged. Many families, like Chen Jiao and her husband, are finally realizing their children's pent-up travel aspirations. Recently, the couple and their 8-year-old daughter embarked on a trip to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Chen told Chongqing Daily: "Before starting first grade, we promised to take her to see the prairie. However, this September she will be going into third grade, and we still haven't fulfilled this promise." She mentioned that this trip was also her daughter's first time taking a flight.

Online travel agency Fliggy had seen a 72.4 percent year-on-year rise in domestic infant and child flight bookings in the past 30 days, as reported by Economic Information Daily on Aug 10.

In July, 62 percent of the travelers using the Tuniu travel portal were families. Data from online service platforms Meituan and Dianping indicated that searches for "family trips" had surged 430 percent since the beginning of July.

Lvmama, an online travel service provider, has seen a higher number of educational travel bookings this summer compared to the same period in 2019. Educational trips with cultural themes have emerged as the most popular choice among travelers, according to Economic Information Daily.

To better meet the diverse needs of vacationers, the tourism industry has developed creative and customized family trips that cater to different age groups and interests.

One emerging trend in family travel is the concept of "textbook tours", where families visit renowned mountains, rivers, historical sites and cultural relics mentioned in textbooks.

According to a representative from the company that manages Yueyang Tower, a tourist magnet in the city of Yueyang, Central China's Hunan province, they receive throngs of student tourists during the summer vacation.

The representative said some of the students take notes while touring and some recite sections from Memoir at Yueyang Tower — an 11th-century essay that is included in middle school textbooks.

The "Caribbean beach" in Nanjing Playa Maya Water Park hosts concerts for children and parents. Chongqing Playa Maya Water Park offers dozens of parent-child water activities, such as a trivia magic show, as reported by Beijing Daily.

Zou Qingling, CEO of Lvmama, told Economic Information Daily: "This summer, there is a clear trend toward segmentation, customization and personalization in the educational trip market.

"Along with textbook tours and flora and fauna exploration trips, experiential trips focusing on local culture, physical fitness, landform surveys, paleontological research and the Silk Road are also very popular."

Tongcheng Travel offers experiences such as stargazing in the desert, horseback riding on the grasslands and scientific studies in botanical gardens, according to Xinhua News Agency.

A representative from the Tongcheng Research Institute said this summer's educational trips have seen notable diversification and thematization. Private tours and well-crafted group tours with smaller sizes and more flexible itineraries have gained popularity among touring families.

Cost-effectiveness remains an important consideration for people when selecting travel routes. However, parents from the post-1990 generation are willing to invest in high-quality educational family trips. They have also raised expectations for product design and service quality, the representative noted.

"The summer tourism market is experiencing robust performance, indicating a rapid recovery of the tourism industry and a continuous increase in people's desire to travel," Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, was quoted as saying by Economic Information Daily.

He added that tourism businesses are focusing on offering comfortable and secure travel environments, as well as more refined services. New forms of tourism have emerged, emphasizing immersive and profound travel experiences rather than mere sightseeing.