The May Day holiday period has concluded, bringing fresh growth opportunities for the cultural and tourism markets as various regions introduced spring break policies. Recent data from major platforms indicates a significant surge in long-distance travel during this year's holiday. Notably, interest-driven experiential consumption saw explosive growth, with new trends emerging such as traveling to attend sports events, visiting lesser-known "hidden gem" cities, and attending live performances. The dual drivers of cultural/sports activities and in-depth cultural tours served as powerful engines boosting holiday economic activity.
Comprehensive data from platforms including TravelSky, Ctrip, and Qunar reveals synchronized growth in domestic deep-experience travel, long-distance cross-provincial trips, self-driving tours, and travel to smaller, non-traditional cities during the May Day period. Outbound long-haul travel showed steady recovery, with both traveler numbers and consumption expected to reach new highs. The holiday tourism consumption landscape demonstrated comprehensive growth across regions, diverse formats, and quality upgrades.
Long-distance travel formed the backbone of the cultural tourism market. According to Tongcheng Travel data, the combined effect of the May Day holiday and spring break policies extended travelers' reach, with hotel bookings in popular long-distance destinations increasing over 40% year-on-year. "Bookings for traditional long-haul destinations like Yunnan, Xinjiang, and Sichuan saw growth rates approaching 80%," a Tongcheng representative stated, adding that the "substitution effect" of cost-effective domestic long-distance trips for overseas destinations remains strong.
The long-distance travel trend further heated the hotel market. Data from multiple platforms shows this year's holiday accommodation market was characterized by tight availability in popular cities and wider adoption of quality lodging. A Ctrip representative noted that besides continued high demand in traditional hotspots, bookings for 4-star hotels grew 38.6% year-on-year. "Guangzhou particularly benefited from the third phase of the 139th Canton Fair, with hotel room nights increasing 25.0%."
The outbound travel market showed steady recovery with notable growth in long-haul cross-border trips. Platform data indicates Chinese tourists booked hotels in over 3,000 global cities during the holiday, with bookings in popular outbound destinations rising 20% year-on-year. Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong (China), and Singapore ranked among the top ten outbound destinations. Importantly, outbound travel quality continued to upgrade, with 14 of the 20 fastest-growing destinations being long-haul locations in Europe, America, and Central Asia over 4,000 km away, signaling a new consumption trend toward deep, long-distance international travel.
The tourism boom simultaneously drove growth in dining consumption. For example, Haidilao enhanced the holiday dining experience through multi-scene innovation, creating differentiated themed restaurants nationwide catering to mainstream demands like family gatherings, nighttime consumption, and suburban outdoor activities, aligning with diversified holiday consumption trends.
Domestic tourism served as an effective engine for holiday economic activity, also boosting sales of new tea beverages. During the holiday, brands like CHABAIDAO, Heytea, and Bawang Chaji saw significant sales increases at multiple locations in provinces with major events and performances, such as Jiangsu, Beijing, Hubei, and Sichuan. The intense competition of the "Jiangsu Super League" drove robust business at surrounding stores during the holiday. At a CHABAIDAO store near Nanjing Olympic Sports Center on a match day, business was continuous from morning to night, with nearly 1,000 cups sold daily. New coffee products like the "1L Lemon Nothing Sparkling Americano" and "1L Love Eating Melon Sparkling Americano" proved particularly popular among fans.
Industry analysis suggests that against the backdrop of consumption upgrading, holiday economics has shifted from traditional sightseeing consumption to experiential, quality, and cultural consumption. New-style tea drinks, through product innovation, scene adaptation, and national expansion, have deeply integrated into diverse scenarios including culture, tourism, sports, and entertainment, becoming an important force driving consumption growth. As cultural-tourism integration deepens and consumption scenes expand, local tea brands like CHABAIDAO are expected to play a greater role in expanding domestic demand, promoting consumption, and facilitating cultural exports.
A China Securities research report noted that strong domestic travel demand during the May Day holiday, combined with the economic impact of sports events, will be key drivers of domestic consumption this year, with supportive policies continuing to benefit the service consumption and travel sectors.
**Relevant Concept Stocks:**
NAYUKI (02150): During May 1-5, the health-focused tea leader saw booming sales nationwide, with store sales in many areas increasing over 700% compared to pre-holiday levels. Some individual stores sold over a thousand cups daily. The returning classic "Overbearing Yangmei," back for its 11th year, ranked first in sales, leading the charts alongside NAYUKI's fruit tea series focused on "low GI & high fiber," making them top beverage choices for holiday outings and gatherings.
CHABAIDAO (02555): According to its March 27 earnings call disclosure, the company recently deployed fully automated coffee machines at scale in its stores and launched freshly ground coffee products, demonstrating significant tea-coffee synergy. Stores offering coffee showed notable sales growth, with some achieving daily coffee sales exceeding 100 cups. This growth boosted sales during breakfast and afternoon tea periods while effectively driving sales of original tea products. Management expressed positive expectations for coffee business development, leveraging its presence in high-tier cities, national supply chain network, and advantages from category complementarity and ingredient reuse. The company aims to cover 2,000 stores by end-2026, with coffee cup sales proportion reaching about 15% at active stores. Coffee products are already available in CHABAIDAO stores in cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Beijing.
Haidilao (06862): In early April, Morgan Stanley published a report expecting Haidilao's (06862) stock to outperform the industry over the next 30 days. The company announced on the 10th that Chairman and CEO Zhang Yong plans to increase his shareholding within 12 months, involving over 100 million yuan. The firm maintains a target price of HK$20 and an "Overweight" rating. This marks Zhang Yong's first share purchase since the 2018 IPO, which is expected to support market sentiment and align with the firm's constructive view on Haidilao.
HWORLD-S (01179): In early April, Citigroup included HWORLD-S (01179) in its 30-day positive catalyst watch list, believing that strong leisure travel demand, inbound tourism, spring breaks in some mainland provinces extending to late April/early May, and increased domestic travel demand due to geopolitical tensions and higher outbound travel costs will support continued positive RevPAR trends through the May Day holiday. Citigroup rates HWORLD a "Buy" with a target price of HK$47, based on a projected 2026 EV/EBITDA of approximately 14x.
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