Rural charms cast their magic

Search queries about "short-distance trips" surged by more than 250 percent year-on-year during the weeklong National Day holiday, according to Chinese travel service and social networking platform Mafengwo.

Beijing topped domestic tourist destinations during the holiday, followed by Shanghai and Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

A significant number of Chinese have chosen to spend their weekends and holidays at hotels near their homes. This was reflected in a 60 percent rise in bookings of such hotels, says the 2021 travel trend insight report by Trip.com Group.

Rural travel bookings grew by more than 30 percent year-on-year in 2021, the report says.

"It's partly thanks to the nation's rural vitalization policy, which has helped make rural life more attractive," Liu says.

In particular, countryside areas managed to attract a lot of urban dwellers, of whom more than 50 percent were from local urban centers.

Family travelers showed a particular fondness for rural escapes.

Bookings of countryside hotels surged by 55 percent in 2021, as compared with the previous year.