Travel demand surges over Qingming Festival holiday

Flower-viewing tours, rural trips and consumer demand for "experiences" reached a peak during the recent three-day Qingming Festival holiday. Consumption across catering, accommodation, leisure, entertainment and other sectors also saw an upturn, according to ByteDance's Douyin Life Services.

Demand for flower viewing and spring outings surged throughout the holiday. Urban color walks, which refer to people selecting a color, wandering around a city, and taking photos of anything in that hue, were particularly popular. Flower viewing was also integrated with diverse experiences such as food tasting, intangible cultural heritage, technology, sports and wellness.

Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, were the top five popular destinations on Douyin Life Services.

According to Meituan Travel, from April 1 to 6, domestic air ticket and train ticket bookings rose 44 percent year-on-year. Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'an in Shaanxi province, Chengdu and Chongqing ranked as Meituan's most popular destinations during the Qingming Festival holiday.

Inter-provincial travel demand accounted for 63 percent of total travel in early April on Meituan Travel, and the post-1995 generation made up 48 percent of travelers, taking the leading role.

With a shift in consumption attitudes among the younger generation, smaller cities are gaining favor as travel destinations, with young people prioritizing experiences, and shunning the crowds at popular scenic spots.

During the holiday period, tourism in Shangrao, Jiangxi province and Wuxi in Jiangsu province saw a notable surge in popularity. Their overall cultural and tourism bookings including air tickets, train tickets, accommodation, scenic spots and other services increased by 102 and 52 percent year-on-year respectively on Meituan Travel.

Driven by the flower-viewing economy, the Baili Azalea Scenic Area in Bijie, Guizhou province launched new immersive experiences such as traditional Chinese cultural activities and hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing) makeup and styling services.

Thanks to the overlap in many regions of the Qingming Festival and spring breaks for primary and secondary school students, family travel saw explosive growth. On Meituan Travel, search volumes for keywords such as parent-child trips and study tours surpassed 1 million.