The National Day long holiday is about to begin, but some people have already been on vacation for six days.
On the afternoon of September 30, a reporter from National Business Daily checked the Umetrip app and found that ticket prices varied significantly across different departure dates around the National Day period. Taking Beijing to Seoul as an example, for the same Air China flight CA709, the ticket price for an October 1 departure was 2,680 yuan, while on October 4 it dropped to 870 yuan. Shifting the departure by three days saved 1,810 yuan, a decrease of nearly 70%.
Domestic routes showed a similar pattern. On the Beijing to Guiyang route, the lowest ticket price on October 1 was 1,140 yuan, while from October 4 to 6 it fell to around 500 yuan.
It is worth noting that this year's "take 3 days off, get 13 days off" vacation approach has extended the travel window around National Day, giving travelers more room to avoid peak periods.
Data from multiple online travel platforms show that long-haul trips, multi-destination travel, and extended stays in one location are all gaining popularity simultaneously. Travelers are paying less for flights, but spending more on their overall journeys.
According to Qunar data, travelers who departed early before the holiday paid about 20% less on average for flights and hotels compared to October 1, yet their total spending on flights and hotels was actually 13% higher than other users. The money saved on airfare was spent on longer accommodation, better hotels, and travel experiences such as private car hire, hiking, and whale watching.
The National Day long holiday is about to begin, but some tourists have already been traveling for six days.
Ctrip data shows that longer holidays are amplifying demand for long-distance travel. Its dual-festival forecast indicates that about 1 in every 10 tourists chose to combine the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day into one extended break, with nearly half of them traveling for more than 8 days.
During the National Day period, cross-province travel accounted for 82%, with long-distance destinations such as Kunming and Urumqi becoming popular choices among travelers taking extended breaks.
Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that as of September 14, booking popularity for domestic long-haul flights exceeding 1,200 kilometers increased 34% year-on-year, with Urumqi, Kunming, Harbin, Yining, Xining, and Lhasa becoming popular long-distance destinations.
Many tourists are expanding their travel radius while also slowing down their pace. "Slow travel" is becoming another choice during the extended holiday.
Tongcheng Travel data shows that hotel bookings for stays of 5 days or more increased by about 7 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Booking popularity for county-level travel products rose 42% year-on-year, and the average number of days tourists spent in county-level destinations increased by 3.2 days compared to the same period last year.
Booking trends on Fliggy also reflect this shift. Long-distance destinations in Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, and Northeast China accounted for the majority of high-growth destinations, with bookings for autumn foliage towns such as Ejina and Yichun doubling.
Another group of tourists used their extra time to visit more places. According to Qunar data, among travelers who departed early this holiday, the proportion of those booking hotels in two or more cities was 35% higher than other travelers, accounting for more than half. The number of tourists staying in 3, 4, and 5 or more cities increased by 38%, 43%, and 53% year-on-year respectively.
This National Day holiday, one notable change is that many travelers are not rushing to depart early in the morning but are actively seeking the "trough" period for ticket prices.
Price differences between different dates are quite significant. Qunar data shows that September 28 was a "bargain-hunting" window for this holiday period, with the average ticket price for departures on that day about 40% lower than October 1.
At around 5:00 PM on September 30, a National Business Daily reporter checked the Umetrip app and found that around the National Day holiday, price differences between different departure dates were very pronounced.
Taking Beijing to Guiyang as an example, the lowest adult ticket price on October 1 was 1,140 yuan, dropping to 960 yuan on October 2, further falling to 540 yuan on October 3, and reaching a low of 500 yuan from October 4 to 6.
In other words, delaying departure from October 1 to October 4 made the lowest ticket price 640 yuan cheaper, a decrease of about 56%. After the holiday, prices dropped further, with the lowest price at 430 yuan on October 12 and as low as 400 yuan on October 18.
International routes showed even more dramatic price differences. The reporter checked the Beijing to Seoul route and found that on October 1, the Air China direct flight was priced at 2,680 yuan and Asiana Airlines at 3,039 yuan. By October 4, the same flights had dropped to 870 yuan and 885 yuan respectively.
Among them, Air China CA709 was 1,810 yuan cheaper when shifted by three days, a decrease of about 68%. Asiana OZ336 was 2,154 yuan cheaper, a decrease of about 71%.
However, "departing a few days later" does not necessarily mean the entire trip will be cheaper. On the Beijing to Xi'an route, the lowest round-trip combination for an October 1 departure and October 4 return was 980 yuan, with the outbound leg at a minimum of 580 yuan and the return leg at a minimum of 400 yuan. If changed to an October 4 departure and October 7 return, although the outbound lowest price dropped to 370 yuan, the lowest direct return flight on October 7 had risen to 1,270 yuan, making the lowest round-trip combination 1,640 yuan instead.
Hotel prices are also fluctuating. Tongcheng Travel platform data shows that September flight prices were generally about 30% to 40% cheaper than the National Day peak, with some resort hotel prices dropping by more than 50%.
Taking a five-star hotel in a popular second-tier city as an example, the off-peak price in September was just over 700 yuan per night, while during National Day it rose to between 1,000 yuan and 1,470 yuan. At the peak price, staying at the same hotel during the off-peak period could save about 700 yuan per night.
Travelers are careful with their spending on flights and hotels but splurge during their journeys. Qunar data shows that many "early departure" users actually spent 13% more on flights and hotels combined on the Qunar platform than other users.
These travelers spent an average of more than 5 days in hotels cumulatively, and their bookings for high-star hotels were 40% more than other users.
Some of the transportation savings are also being redirected toward travel experiences. Fliggy data shows that during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day period, bookings for glacier hiking-related products increased by more than 50% year-on-year, skydiving grew by nearly 80%, and whale-watching trips increased by more than 200%.
At the same time, bookings for domestic private car hire, which offers a more relaxed way to travel, increased by more than 40% year-on-year, and cruise bookings grew by nearly 70%.
Even as the holiday approaches, some routes still have low-priced tickets. A National Business Daily reporter searched on the Fliggy platform and found that during National Day, round-trip flights between Beijing and Xi'an totaled less than 900 yuan, and there were still options under 1,000 yuan for round trips between Beijing and Shanghai or Hangzhou.
Of course, consumer demand for flights is not limited to price alone. As itineraries grow longer and destinations multiply, the likelihood of changing plans at short notice increases, making the flexibility of refunds and changes another area where platforms are competing for consumers.
Based on data released by four platforms so far, this year's dual-festival period shows a characteristic different from traditional Golden Weeks in the aviation market: demand remains strong, but departure and return times and destinations are no longer concentrated.
On one hand, combining leave days allows travelers to avoid the most concentrated travel dates, which may cause the traditionally highly concentrated price peak during Golden Week to become more fragmented. On the other hand, longer holidays further expand travel radius, driving growth in demand for long-haul routes, multi-destination trips, and cross-border travel.
For airlines, this means that this year's dual-festival period is not just a single passenger flow peak but a peak season with more complex demand. How to adjust capacity and ticket prices across different dates and routes may be more worthy of attention than simply adding flights.
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