Travel is booming, experiences are plentiful, and stores are booming—Observations on the consumer market during the National Day holiday

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 5. Title: Travel is booming, experiences are abundant, and stores are booming - Observation on the consumer market during the National Day holiday

Xinhua News Agency reporter

During the National Day holiday, China’s mobile vitality surges. From the popularity of cross-provincial long-distance tours and county-level small town tours, to immersive scenes activating new cultural and tourism experiences, to policy-market linkage efforts to drive store consumption... In the past few days, Xinhua News Agency reporters have gone to the front lines in many places to observe the new trend of the consumer market during the National Day holiday.

Travel is booming, long-term travel releases the vitality of cultural tourism

Seeing the Forbidden City in Shenyang, seeing the sea in Dalian, walking along the border in Dandong... During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays this year, Ms. Chen from Hunan embarked on a seven-day long-distance tour of Liaoning. “This ‘long vacation’, we can drive by ourselves and play slowly and experience a sense of relaxation,” Ms. Chen said.

This year, there are only three working days between the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday. The "split vacation" plan of "taking 3 days off and 13 days off" has become popular. The 13-day holiday has made long-term travel a highlight of travel. Qunar travel data shows that during this year’s National Day holiday, bookings for routes over 2,000 kilometers increased by more than 40% year-on-year.

Chen Liteng, a digital life analyst at the E-commerce Research Center of NetEase, analyzed that the "scheduled vacation" plan of "taking 3 days off and 13 days off" has promoted tourism consumption from "concentrated outbreak" to "segmented release". The two waves of travel peaks superimpose the trend of "double holiday travel", which shows that consumers are actively managing their travel rhythm.

While long-term travel is booming, small towns and counties are also accepting more travel needs. In Chaling County, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, Chazu Avenue is very popular, and thousands of people sang "Bless the Motherland" in a flash mob; in Mile City, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, tourists from all over the world experience "a kind of life called Yunnan" in the beautiful scenery and leisurely rhythm...

Qunar travel data shows that as of the 4th, the top 10 most popular scenic spots were occupied by small towns, with Hetou Old Street in Tangshan, Hebei, Shapotou, Zhongwei, Ningxia, and Gexian Village Resort, Shangrao, Jiangxi, ranking among the top three.

Rich experiences, diverse forms light up the holiday economy

During the National Day holiday, the Big Tongqian Square on Jinjie, Heping District, Tianjin was crowded with people. The Tianjin People's Art Theater's immersive drama "Sunrise" was staged here - there was no curtain separation, no stage boundaries, and "Chen Bailu" dressed in a cheongsam walked into the crowd. In the 1930s, the playwright Cao Yu created "Sunrise" with the former site of Huizhong Hotel not far from the "Big Copper Coin" as the background. Nowadays, dramas leave the theater and return to their original place to be presented in the open air.

A play activates a street. During this year’s National Day holiday, the upgraded and renovated Golden Street landmark “Big Copper Coin” was newly lit up, and the new light and shadow blended with the century-old commercial street style. Watching theater during the day and admiring the lights and shadows at night, the popularity of immersive performances has been transformed into consumer vitality in the business district along the street. During this year’s National Day holiday, the average daily passenger flow in Jinjie Commercial District was about 600,000.

In addition to the expansion of travel radius, tourists' consumption scenarios have also shifted from traditional sightseeing to immersive experiences. Qunar travel data shows that on the first day of National Day, searches for scenic spot tickets with labels like “immersive performances,” “fireworks shows,” and “night tours” increased by more than 50% year-on-year.

In Chongqing, the "New Rhythm Chongqing" drone light show National Day performance attracted many tourists to "check in", and thousands of drones lit up the night sky with symbols of Bayu culture and mountain city memories. With the "best viewing position" facing the performance area, many restaurants on Nanbin Road have experienced peak customer flow. "It's too busy at all. There are 40 tables in the store, and at least three tables are turned over a night during the peak period." Zhang Tao, manager of a hot pot restaurant, said.

In Jinhua, Zhejiang, the intangible cultural heritage market and Wu opera drama in the ancient city of Wuzhou attract tourists in droves; in Daxin, Guangxi, tourists experience farming life in a pastoral community renovated from old buildings in the village... Yang Han, a researcher at the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, believes that content-driven gameplay is very popular during this year's National Day holiday, and the new "experience +" format is expected to drive more non-traditional tourist destinations to achieve new heights in the National Day cultural tourism market.

Shopping malls are booming, and policies are boosting the consumer market

"I bought a refrigerator at home during the holidays, and I saved a lot of money by using the subsidy!" Mr. Wang, who lives in Tianjin, told reporters that the national subsidy combined with store discounts saved a total of more than 1,000 yuan.

This year’s fourth batch of 62.5 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special government bonds to support the trade-in of consumer goods was launched before the National Day holiday, boosting consumer enthusiasm during the National Day holiday. The reporter saw in Tianjin that the maximum subsidy for digital products such as mobile phones and tablets is 500 yuan, and the maximum subsidy for home appliances is up to 1,500 yuan. The real discounts attract many citizens to come into the store to experience and purchase new ones.

In Nanjing, Jiangsu, the 2026 Nanjing Auto Show will be held from September 30 to October 4. In order to seize the peak season and further boost automobile consumption, Jiangsu’s commerce department has teamed up with relevant departments, associations and financial institutions to carefully organize and launch trade-in, new purchase subsidies, financial concessions, car company discounts, etc. A consumer at the scene said that after stacking discounts, the car of his choice can be discounted by nearly 10,000 yuan.

Various localities have combined promoting consumption with benefiting people's livelihood, and a series of policy measures have stimulated market vitality and boosted consumer confidence. During the National Day holiday, various districts in Tianjin issued more than 80 million yuan in government consumption vouchers, forming a linkage effect of government subsidies, platform profits, and enterprises benefiting the people; Liaoning implemented a "dual voucher" ticket stub economic model. People can apply for consumption vouchers at 25,000 merchants in the province with vouchers such as events and exhibitions...

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, from October 1 to 3, the trade-in of consumer goods drove sales of 19.63 billion yuan, benefiting 3.483 million people. Among them, 46,000 cars were traded in for new ones, driving new car sales of 7.45 billion yuan; 1.511 million home appliances were traded in, driving sales of 6.5 billion yuan; 1.709 million new digital and smart products were purchased, driving sales of 4.9 billion yuan.