The National Day holiday has come to an end, and a holiday consumption "heat map" has been released: the popularity of travel has spread from metropolitan cities to small towns in counties, and searches related to "touring to counties" have surged month-on-month; events are deeply tied to holiday scenes, and "watching games + vacation" has become a new way for young people to arrange their holidays; in addition, the effects of the trade-in policy for consumer goods continue to be released, and AI smart consumption is accelerating from early adopters to standard products.
Experts believe that the booming cultural tourism market and the rise of smart consumption are not only the highlight of holiday consumption, but also an important direction for the current expansion of domestic demand. The continued and precise intensification of policy efforts will provide strong support for consumption expansion and quality improvement in the fourth quarter and beyond.
Cultural and tourism consumption: “County Tour” becomes popular, games and vacations heat up
"There is bright moonlight in front of the bed, I suspect it is frost on the ground..." During the National Day holiday, tourist Li Changwei and his son recited "Silent Night Thoughts" in unison in front of the inscription at Li Bai's former residence scenic spot in Jiangyou City, Mianyang, Sichuan. Follow the footsteps of the Poet Immortal, watch a performance of "Happy Li Bai" at Fantawild Oriental Painting Paradise, have a bite of Jiangyou sausage, and taste a cup of Zheergen tea - the poetic charm of the city and the city full of fireworks have become the most vivid footnote of Jiangyou City, the "treasure town" during this holiday.
During this National Day holiday, small towns are no longer just "passing by", "touring to the county" has become a new growth point for National Day tourism consumption. Mafengwo data shows that searches for "touring to the county" have surged 238% month-on-month; Ctrip data shows that the proportion of orders for tourist attractions in the east that go to third-tier and below cities has increased from about 20% in 2024 to about 47%; Qunar data shows that the popularity of county hotel bookings has increased by 35% year-on-year.
Each game is also connecting more consumption scenarios such as accommodation, catering and city tours, adding fuel to holiday consumption.
Serbian tennis star Djokovic returned to the China Open after 11 years. On the night of October 4, the attendance rate at the Diamond Court of the Beijing National Tennis Center was 99.2%. Meituan data shows that during the National Day, searches for “hotels near the National Tennis Center” increased by more than 200% year-on-year.
During the holidays, Chengdu also held events such as the International Youth Football Classic; Suzhou not only had popular events such as the "Suzhou Super League" in full swing, but also issued a considerable amount of wine and travel vouchers. Hotel bookings on some platforms increased by more than 20% year-on-year.
The driving effect of service consumption has further emerged. The Ministry of Commerce’s business big data shows that from October 1st to 6th, the passenger flow and turnover of 78 pedestrian streets (business districts) monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increased by 2.5% and 4.7% respectively year-on-year.
Industry insiders believe that the continuation of the popularity of travel during the National Day holiday deserves attention. Data from Guangzhou Travel, a subsidiary of Lingnan Holdings, shows that post-holiday cross-provincial autumn appreciation, special tourist trains, and health and wellness products have received very hot registrations, and are expected to absorb market traffic and continue the popularity of holiday travel. Sinolink Securities judged that the effect of the double festival and long holidays will be combined with the expansion of the "autumn holidays" in many provinces in the fourth quarter, and peak-shifting demand is expected to support the fourth quarter's prosperity.
Commodity consumption: trade-in for old is effective, AI intelligence leads the way
In addition to the cultural tourism market, commodity consumption is also full of enthusiasm. According to the Ministry of Commerce’s commercial big data, from October 1 to 6, the trade-in of consumer goods benefited 6.392 million people, driving sales of 33.48 billion yuan.
Structural changes are even more dramatic. Data from Suning.com shows that from October 1st to 7th, customer flow in core stores across the country increased by 50% year-on-year, sales of AI smart home appliances increased by more than 40% year-on-year, and AI product sales accounted for more than 70% for the first time, becoming the main force for replacement and upgrades. JD.com MALL data also shows that smart home appliances and green home appliances have become consumers' first choice for "refreshing". In its first round of holiday consumption data, smart home appliance sales accounted for 60%.
"From early adopters of concepts to universal benefits, AI products have accelerated to become the main line of industry upgrades by solving pain points in real scenarios and deeply integrating into home life activities." said Ni Zhihua, general manager of Suning.com Direct Store Sales Management Center.
It is worth noting that the boundaries of smart upgrades are extending to county areas and elderly-friendly scenarios. During the long vacation, many young people returned to their hometowns to replace old home appliances for their parents, bringing convenient and smart life back to the countryside. Judging from platform and store data, water purifiers, washing and drying jackets, and dishwashers have gradually become high-quality needs for households in counties from popular categories in cities; sales of floor scrubbers, micro-steaming and baking machines, and embedded kitchen appliances suitable for large courtyard homes have even doubled year-on-year; digital home appliances suitable for aging are also experiencing new growth, and the demand for smart health products such as large-screen TVs with large subtitles, simple smart door locks, and low-sugar rice cookers continues to rise.
Policy strengthening: clear coordinates for expanding domestic demand and sufficient potential for quality improvement
Behind the National Day consumption boom is the continued strengthening of policies. Before the National Day holiday, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued the fourth batch of 62.5 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special government bonds to local governments this year to support the trade-in of consumer goods. So far, all the 250 billion yuan in trade-in funds for consumer goods for the whole year have been released.
The establishment of a medium- to long-term framework also deserves attention. The "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" for Expanding Consumption, released in July this year, clarified that by 2030, the total retail sales of consumer goods will reach about 60 trillion yuan, and systematic arrangements will be made around specific areas such as expanding service consumption and upgrading commodity consumption.
Refined policies are also being improved at an accelerated pace. On the commodity side, the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Expansion and Upgrading of Commodity Consumption" by seven departments including the Ministry of Commerce further clarified the cultivation of a 10 trillion-level market such as green consumption, smart consumption, and healthy consumption; on the service side, the "Work Plan to Accelerate the Cultivation of New Growth Points in Service Consumption" and the "2026 Work Plan for Service Consumption Improvement Quality and People-Benefiting Actions" have been successively released, focusing on key areas and potential areas, and accelerating the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption.
Hong Yong, an associate researcher at the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, believes that these policies are deployed at a clear level. "Bulk durable commodities underpin the basic market and focus on releasing the demand for inventory renewal; service consumption improves quality and expands capacity, activating daily consumption vitality with quality and brand; green, smart, and healthy consumption focuses on new growth points and shoulders the important task of cultivating a 10 trillion market."
Experts believe that the most noteworthy signal in the consumer market during the National Day holiday is not only the growth rate, but also the structural direction. "Behind cultural tourism is the expansion of service consumption, behind home appliances is the upgrading of intelligence and greenness, and the policy level has drawn clear coordinates for these two main lines." Hong Yong said that as relevant supporting policies are gradually refined and implemented, and application scenarios continue to extend to county areas and elderly care and other segmented needs, the role of consumption as the "main engine" of economic growth is expected to be further highlighted in the fourth quarter. (Reporters Wang Wenbo, Wei Xiayi, Li Like)
