The cultural tourism market heats up in the golden autumn: North-South exchanges and treasure towns have become a new trend in holiday travel

CCTV News: As the mood of autumn grows stronger, the economy of autumn appreciation is also gradually heating up. Each region relies on its own advantages to continue to enrich the supply of cultural tourism products.

From now to early October, northern regions such as Weichang Manchu and Mongolian Autonomous County in Chengde City, Hebei Province, Aershan City, Xing'an League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Benxi Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, and Tangwang County, Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province have entered the best autumn viewing period.

From early to the end of October, Wuyuan County in Shangrao City in Jiangxi Province, Huaihua City in Hunan Province, Guilin City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, and Jinta County in Jiuquan City in Gansu Province will also enter the most beautiful autumn.

The distinct autumn viewing routes from north to south have also given rise to new ways to play. At present, the nighttime temperature in some places in the north has dropped to single digits, while in the south it is still hot at around 30 degrees Celsius during the day. The "North-South Exchange" and "Autumn Migration" spanning thousands of kilometers have become the distinctive scenery of this holiday.

All the way north and west, chasing the autumn colors in the "best viewing period" drove the search volume of "Autumn Chasing Route" to increase by 170% week-on-week. According to data from the travel platform, the number of ticket bookings to the local areas doubled on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, with the golden birch blooming in Altay, grass plowing in Xilinhot, snow-capped mountains and forest season in Linzhi, and golden rice waves ripening in Xizhou, Dali. Many of them went on long-term trips to "chasing autumn". Long-distance autumn routes from South China and East China have grown significantly, and "living in" autumn has become a new choice for young people to travel during this holiday.

Luobei, Heilongjiang: Self-driving tour on the border to unlock limited autumn beauty

Through the autumn appreciation map, I found that many autumn scenery are hidden in treasure towns in various places. What fun things are there in these county treasure towns during the holidays?

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qianli Longjiang unfolds the most gorgeous autumn picture of the year. In 2026, Heilongjiang will integrate high-quality cultural tourism resources and launch more than 100 unique autumn viewing routes under five major themes. In Luobei County, Hegang City, self-driving tours along the border combine autumn sightseeing, red study, and riverside leisure, immersing you in unlocking the limited beauty of autumn.

Self-driving travel has also driven sales growth of automobile-related products. Data from e-commerce platforms show that self-driving travel-related products before the holiday increased by more than 80% compared with the previous week.

Yan Zongguang, head of JD Automotive Marketing, said that sales of in-vehicle AI robots have increased fourfold, and sales of in-vehicle beds have tripled. Cars are becoming a new mobile living space.

In addition, Huoshaodian Town, Liuba County, Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province, relies on its own advantages of being located in the core dark night zone, with very little light pollution and extremely high atmospheric transparency, to create a "moon-viewing and star-chasing town".

Data from travel platforms show that on the first day of the holiday, the occupancy of county hotels in Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces surged more than five times year-on-year.