Spring Break coincides with the Qingming Festival holiday, and the "Little Golden Week" is boosting the travel market.

By Our Reporter Liang Aonan

This year, the “Spring and Autumn Vacation” was written into the “Government Work Report” for the first time—“Support eligible localities in rolling out Spring and Autumn Vacation for primary and middle school students, and implement the paid staggered leave system for employees.” Currently, places such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Sichuan have already clarified pilot implementation of the spring holiday, and in many areas the time off connects with the Qingming holiday, forming a 6-day “mini golden week,” injecting strong momentum into the tourism market.

Judging from data disclosed by online travel platforms, as of March 23, during April 1 to 6 (spring holiday + Qingming holiday), search and booking heat for flights, hotels and guesthouses, attraction tickets, and more significantly outpaced the same period last year, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 100%.

Driven by the spring holiday’s overlap, Tongcheng Travel data shows that from April 1 to 2, the tourism market is expected to see the first wave of peak travel. With the 6-day holiday extending the travel radius, the booking growth rate for domestic long-haul flights above 800 km is notably higher, and search heat for international flights shows a year-on-year increase of over 50%.

Ctrip data shows that from April 1 to 6, the number of flights for multiple popular cities increased by about 30% year on year. This year’s Qingming holiday features a strong family-with-children profile: outings to enjoy spring scenery, flower viewing, and family trips have become the mainstream. It is expected that flights carrying passengers under 18 will increase by more than 1 time year on year, and visitor volume of teenagers at scenic spots will rise by more than 3 times.

“The ways students gain knowledge and improve their overall competencies are not limited to classrooms and textbooks; they also include visiting museums and libraries and going out into nature. Therefore, promoting Spring and Autumn Vacation is, in practice, an enhancement of the education system and an improvement in education quality.” Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, told a reporter from The Securities Daily that the establishment of Spring and Autumn Vacation helps students achieve a better balance among learning, daily life, and leisure. Easing the pace appropriately and relaxing both mentally and physically is not only beneficial for personal growth, but also has positive significance for overall social development and even economic growth.

In addition, recent flight prices are also relatively friendly for family travel. The reporter’s investigation found that the average airfare for flights departing on April 1 is lower than that for April 3. For popular routes, the lowest price for Chengdu to Sanya on April 1 is about 800 yuan. Although it is higher than the same period of the previous week, it is only half of the average ticket price during the “May Day” holiday, making the cost-performance advantage especially clear.

Worth noting is that in multiple cities, attracting visitor footfall through measures such as free admission to scenic spots has boosted local hotel bookings significantly. As of March 23, according to Qunar, Yibin Shu Nan Bamboo Sea and Xingwen Shihai will offer free tickets from April 1 to 30 to preschoolers, elementary and middle school students, and in-service teachers nationwide, driving local hotel bookings up by 1.6 times year on year. In Mianyang, Sichuan, multiple scenic spots have also rolled out free-ticket benefits that children and parents can enjoy together, driving local hotel bookings up by 95% year on year.

“Because the spring holiday and Qingming are taken consecutively, they create a clear boosting effect and effectively stimulate domestic demand. In addition, the staggered scheduling of the spring holiday smooths out peak travel demand, allowing tourists to achieve higher cost-effective trips while also enjoying a more comfortable travel experience. Some cities that proactively promote spring holidays can not only export large volumes of visitors, but also attract more local or out-of-town tourists through distinctive supportive policies, thereby giving back to the local culture and tourism market.” Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, told a reporter from The Securities Daily.

The 6-day holiday also creates favorable conditions for outbound travel. Based on data from various platforms, this year’s Qingming holiday shows a significant year-on-year increase in the heat of outbound travel, and flight prices are trending upward. Seoul, Bangkok, Jeju Island, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali, Macau, Ho Chi Minh City, and Phuket are among the top 10 most popular outbound destinations.

A relevant person from Tongcheng Research Institute told a reporter from The Securities Daily that spring holiday and Qingming together form a 6-day continuous break, which not only effectively releases demand for medium- and long-distance trips from family-with-children travelers, but also further validates the feasibility of the “staggered leave + traditional holidays” combination model in activating consumption potential. It is expected to spark new scenarios for the integration of “education + culture and tourism,” and drive quality improvement and upgrading on the culture-and-tourism supply side. Looking ahead, as Spring and Autumn Vacation is rolled out more broadly and implemented, it may reshape the tourism consumption cycle across the year.

(Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            Tourism