The combination of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays is giving Chinese travelers an unusually long window for autumn travel, with longer journeys and multi-destination itineraries emerging as major trends.
Data from Trip.com Group show that about one in 10 travelers plans to combine the two holidays, creating one of the longest travel windows of the year. Nearly half of those taking the extended break will travel for more than eight days.
The longer break is also encouraging travelers to venture farther. While short-distance trips remain dominant during Mid-Autumn Festival, cross-provincial travel is expected to account for 82 percent of trips during the National Day holiday. Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou remain among the most popular destinations for travelers taking the extended break, while Kunming and Urumqi have also entered the top 10, according to the online travel agency.
Air travel data point to a similar shift. As of Sept 14, more than 8.58 million domestic flight tickets had been booked for travel between Sept 25 and Oct 7, up more than 10 percent year-on-year, according to aviation data platform Umetrip. Bookings for domestic routes longer than 2,000 kilometers exceeded 1.74 million, up about 14 percent.
Travelers are also spreading their journeys across multiple destinations. The number of domestic travelers who booked flights to three or more destinations during the holiday period has doubled year-on-year, according to Umetrip.
Autumn scenery is among the biggest draws. Kanas in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Huangshan Mountain, Zhangjiajie and the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall are among the popular scenic destinations identified by Trip.com, reflecting growing demand for seasonal landscapes and outdoor experiences.
The trend is particularly evident among younger travelers. People aged 25 to 34 account for nearly 40 percent of holiday travelers, according to Trip.com. Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Yunnan are among the regions drawing strong interest from young travelers.
Scenic areas including Huangshan Mountain in Anhui province, Hemu in Xinjiang, Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai province and Zhangye's Rainbow Mountains in Gansu province are also attracting attention.
International travel is growing as well. Umetrip data show that outbound flight bookings have exceeded 1.21 million, up about 4 percent, while inbound bookings topped 1.11 million, up about 6 percent.
The figures suggest that the extended holiday is doing more than adding days to the calendar. It is giving travelers more time to venture farther, visit multiple destinations and build trips around seasonal scenery, cultural events and sporting occasions, experts say.
