During this year's National Day extended holiday, consumers are no longer focused only on "where to go," but increasingly on the travel experience and convenience services. On October 7, a business correspondent learned from multiple e-commerce platforms that this year's holiday consumption showed characteristics such as an expanded travel radius, more multi-city串联 trips, and rising experiential consumption. At the same time, demand derived from holiday travel — including "renting instead of buying," door-to-door services, and gift delivery — also grew noticeably, with service consumption further embedding itself into daily life and tourism scenarios during the long holiday.
In terms of travel, long-distance and cross-city trips continued to heat up during this year's National Day "Golden Week." According to the Meituan (MEITUAN) 2026 National Day Consumption Insight Report, orders for long-distance trips exceeding 800 kilometers rose 25% year-on-year, 31% of users stayed at one destination for three days or more, and hotel consecutive-stay orders increased 31% year-on-year. In addition, the practice of linking multiple cities in a single trip became more common; during the "October 1" holiday, the average tourist visited about 1.2 cities, up from last year, and users who linked three or more cities in one trip via combined air and high-speed rail travel grew 54% year-on-year. Travel also drove offline consumption. According to the 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day Consumption Report released by Douyin Life Services, group-buying orders on Douyin rose 53% year-on-year during the "double festival" period, with catering orders up more than 61%, liquor and travel orders up 42%, and hotel orders up nearly 79%.
Tourists also placed greater emphasis on deep experiences at destinations, and "skill-learning travel" gained popularity. According to Meituan (MEITUAN) data, in the first three days of the National Day holiday, searches for "coffee-making experience" rose 65% year-on-year, "clay sculpture and pottery courses" rose 84%, "baking courses" rose 125%, and "private makeup lessons" rose 377%; in sports training, searches for "Pilates training" rose 133% year-on-year, and "rock climbing experience classes" rose 177%. One clear trend is that consumers' travel styles are shifting from "sightseeing and checking in" to "fulfilling experiences," arranging time around interests, experiences, and emotional value. According to Meituan (MEITUAN) data, hiking and mountain climbing, autumn harvest picking, tennis training, makeup experiences, clay sculpture and pottery, loop road autumn viewing, hot spring vacations, crab tasting, musical theater performances, and staying in distinctive experience homestays became the top ten popular activities this National Day. On the other hand, Douyin data showed that bathing and massage, beauty and hair and nail services, DIY craft workshops, children's playgrounds, bars, and movies became popular ways to spend the holiday close to home. Among them, DIY craft workshop orders rose 17 times year-on-year, and pindou (perler bead) orders rose 60 times year-on-year. Whether traveling or staying home, immersive and experiential consumption was welcomed by users.
Around holiday travel, new demand also emerged for service consumption. Equipment rental in areas such as photography, camping, and skiing became a new choice for some consumers. According to a JD.com (JD) survey, this National Day, when choosing between "buying better or renting better," 80% of respondents chose "buying better," while 20% chose "renting better." JD.com (JD) platform data showed that before the National Day holiday, rental service transaction value grew more than five times year-on-year. Beyond equipment rental, the long holiday also generated more demand for door-to-door services. For pet-owning families, how to care for pets during travel is expanding from "sending them to boarding" to "hiring someone to come to the home." According to JD.com (JD) platform data, in the two weeks before National Day, searches for "pet feeding" within the JD.com (JD) App grew more than 300%, and pet door-to-door service orders rose more than 200% month-on-month.
From new trends such as "multi-city travel" and "skill-learning travel" to services such as equipment rental and door-to-door pet feeding, the changes in this year's National Day consumption are reflected not only in destinations and activities, but also in the consumption approach itself. Consumers are paying more for experience and convenience, and service consumption is becoming a clear incremental direction in the long-holiday economy.
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