This year's National Day holiday is drawing to a close. Have you reunited with family and friends, enjoying an unforgettable journey amid natural scenery and cultural heritage sites? People's cross-regional movement trajectories have been recorded by Baidu Maps' migration big data 鈥?taking October 1 as an example, on that day, Ningbo's inflow and outflow scale indices reached 7.556 and 13.505 respectively, both marking the second highest levels of the year, surpassed only by the first day of the May Day holiday. So, during this year's National Day holiday, what travel trends have emerged among Ningbo residents? And where did visitors to Ningbo come from? Ningbo Airport Domestic Arrivals on October 7, Photo by Reporter Yan Jin.
First-Day Migration Scale Slightly Down Year-on-Year
Let's look at the overall data first. On the first day of this year's National Day holiday (October 1), Ningbo's inflow scale index (7.556) was essentially flat compared to the same period last year (7.654), edging down 1.28%; while the outflow scale (13.505) declined from the same period last year (14.685), dropping 8.04%. This "slight decline" trend is not unique to Ningbo but is a nationwide phenomenon 鈥?before the holiday, the Ministry of Transport predicted that during this year's 7-day National Day holiday, the total cross-regional personnel flow across the country would reach 2.13 billion trips, compared to 2.432 billion during last year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day combined holiday. In other words, this year's National Day holiday saw a shrinking "base" of nationwide migration. Behind this is mainly the factor of holiday structure changes. Last year, the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day were linked as a "double holiday" lasting 8 days, with the demand for returning home for reunions overlapping with the desire for outbound tourism, boosting people's travel enthusiasm; by contrast, this year, the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived earlier, already diverting some travel intentions, and a group of "leave-splicers" who took "3 days off, 13 days break" front-loaded their travel rhythm, achieving the effect of staggering peak travel.
Inflow Overtakes Outflow in the Mid-Period
In the following 3 days (October 2 to 4), Ningbo's inflow scale continued to maintain a relatively high level for the year, at 5.794, 6.342, and 6.392 respectively, showing a day-by-day climbing trend; while the outflow scale dropped significantly, at 8.994, 6.798, and 5.525 respectively. Notably, on October 3 and 4, Ningbo's inflow scale index had already surpassed the outflow scale index. This indicates that the willingness of out-of-town tourists to visit Ningbo shows a steady, continuously releasing trend, with sustained popularity even in the middle of the long holiday; while the travel demand of Ningbo residents was mostly released on the first and second days of the holiday, appearing more concentrated. The reason lies in the demographic structure of people entering and leaving Ningbo 鈥?taking October 1 as an example, 85% of people entering Ningbo that day came from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai "free shipping zone," with intra-provincial visitors accounting for 63.46%. These short-distance tourists from surrounding areas have more scattered and flexible travel rhythms: some, fearing traffic jams, simply chose the mid-holiday period to travel off-peak; others treated Ningbo as a "transit stop," first visiting other cities before looping back. This batch-arrival pattern means Ningbo has visitors arriving at all times. In contrast, among those leaving Ningbo during the same period, a higher proportion chose "long-distance travel" 鈥?those heading to areas outside Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai accounted for 29.31%, while among the inflow population this proportion was only 15%, with the former nearly double the latter. Moreover, a group of "new Ningbo residents" returned to their hometowns to visit relatives, heading to provinces such as Anhui, Jiangxi, and Henan. Traveling far requires early planning and prompt departure. Therefore, the first-day "rush" of outflows is not hard to understand.
Hangzhou and Ningbo Still Engage in "Two-Way Exchange"
Specifically regarding city distribution, on the first day of this year's National Day holiday, the people entering Ningbo mainly came from Hangzhou (13.96%), Shanghai (11.30%), Taizhou (10.79%), Shaoxing (10.44%), and Jinhua (7.67%) 鈥?the rankings of these five cities were consistent with the same period last year, indicating they have become stable "source markets" for Ningbo. Some even came from Beijing (0.65%) from afar 鈥?among them were both returning "Beijing drifters" and some business travelers; while the hometown of many "new Ningbo residents" 鈥?Fuyang (0.46%) 鈥?appearing among popular inflow source locations may indicate that some Fuyang natives working in Ningbo invited family from their hometowns to Ningbo for "reverse reunions." To attract more surrounding tourists, major scenic spots in Ningbo launched a series of exciting activities. For example, Ningbo Museum's NPC garden interaction and Chinese-style market "won over" a large audience, attracting over 40,000 visitors from October 1 to 4; Cicheng Ancient County Town staged immersive live-action dramas and "Cihu Night Banquet" performances, attracting nearly 90,000 visitors on the first day of the National Day holiday; Tianyi Pavilion, Dongqian Lake, Xuedou Mountain, and other scenic spots also had booming crowds. Cicheng Ancient County Town Crowded with Visitors, Image Source: Official WeChat of the Scenic Area.
Looking at popular outflow destinations, on the first day of this year's National Day holiday, people leaving Ningbo mainly headed to Hangzhou (11.28%), Shaoxing (9.48%), Taizhou (9.44%), Jinhua (6.63%), and Zhoushan (5.00%), with the "TOP5" all being intra-provincial cities. Among them, Hangzhou is both Ningbo's largest inflow source and largest outflow destination, with the two cities still engaging in "two-way exchange." Among out-of-province cities, Ningbo residents' popular destinations that day included not only core Yangtze River Delta cities such as Suzhou, Shanghai, and Nanjing 鈥?which, with their rich tourism resources, diverse cultural venues, and exciting sports and cultural activities, became ideal destinations for surrounding tours; but also a number of major labor-exporting cities such as Fuyang, Bozhou, and Shangqiu, reflecting the steps of "new Ningbo residents" returning to their hometowns to visit relatives.
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