On October 2, the second day of the National Day holiday, the tourism market continued to boom.

Earlier reports noted that popular attractions including Jiuzhaigou and Changbai Mountain announced in notices published as early as September 30 that tickets for October 2 and 3 had already sold out in advance. At 10:22 PM on October 1, the Shenxianju Scenic Area in Zhejiang issued a notice stating that visitor flow on October 2 (Friday) had reached capacity, and the site would close both online and offline ticket sales and free-entry channels while implementing flow-control measures.

Early on October 2, scenic areas in multiple locations issued flow-control announcements. The Baoquan Scenic Area in Henan, for instance, released a notice at 8 AM on October 2 stating that advance ticket sales for Baoquan Yatianxia on that day had reached the limit, and during the National Day holiday the Baoquan Tourism Area would strictly enforce "limited numbers, advance booking, and staggered visits." A notice from the Yungang Grottoes at 10:47 AM showed that tickets for October 2, 3, and 4 were fully booked. The Laojun Mountain Scenic Area issued a flow-control notice at 11:11 AM, saying same-day advance ticket sales had hit the cap and urging visitors who failed to book to arrange to visit on another date. The Sanqingshan Scenic Area and Wansuishan Wuxia City successively issued notices in the afternoon stating that flow-control measures were in effect and that tickets were no longer being sold through either online or offline channels.

At the same time, cultural and tourism departments in multiple regions disclosed their October 1 tourism results, with Liaoning and other places reporting double-digit year-on-year growth in visitor numbers. On the evening of October 1, data from the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism showed that on the first day of the National Day holiday, based on mobile signaling big-data modeling, Hunan recorded 9.7846 million visitor trips that day. Of these, 2.0323 million were from out of province, accounting for 20.77%, while 7.7522 million were local visitors, accounting for 79.23%. Data from the Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism showed that on October 1, A-level scenic areas in Hubei received a total of 1.5888 million visitors, up 7.43% year on year. On October 2, the Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism disclosed that as of 3 PM on October 1, the first day of the 2026 National Day holiday, Liaoning had received a year-on-year increase of 12.47% in visitor numbers and achieved a year-on-year increase of 11.41% in comprehensive tourism revenue. Data from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Department of Culture and Tourism showed that on the first day of the 2026 National Day holiday, Inner Mongolia received 3.7016 million domestic visitors and recorded total domestic visitor spending of 2.594 billion yuan. This included 2.541 million same-day visitors, accounting for 68.65%, and 1.1606 million overnight visitors, accounting for 31.35%.

However, on October 2, airfares during the holiday period plunged again: a flight from Beijing to Kunming that cost nearly 2,000 yuan yesterday had dropped to just over 800 yuan today, while Harbin and Qingdao could be reached for just over 300 yuan. Data from the Qunar platform showed that based on average ticket prices on the platform, airfares began to decline significantly on October 2, 20% cheaper than on October 1; prices continued to fall on October 3 and 4, reaching a mid-holiday low. Return travel began on October 5, with prices rising steadily, peaking on October 7, before easing on October 8 and 9. Analysts at the Qunar Travel Big Data Research Institute noted that during each National Day holiday, prices are noticeably lower in the middle period compared with the two peaks on the first and last days, representing genuinely attractive prices, with some route fares effectively half off. Taking Beijing-Kunming as an example, the base fare for the 6:40 AM flight on October 1 was 1,927 yuan, compared with 884 yuan on October 2, 50% cheaper than October 1. Qunar platform data showed that many low-priced tickets were still on sale during the holiday period. Departing Beijing on October 3, the lowest base fare to Harbin was 300 yuan; departing Guangzhou, the lowest fare to Qingdao was 500 yuan; Shanghai to Xi'an was as low as 350 yuan; and Wuhan to Tianjin was as low as 385 yuan.

Meanwhile, searches also found that hotel prices in many places gradually declined starting October 2. For example, a hotel on a pedestrian street in Kunming, Yunnan, had a minimum stay price of 931 yuan (RMB, same below) per night on October 2; on October 3 and 4, the minimum price fell by more than 200 yuan to just 702 yuan per night; on October 5, the minimum price was 645 yuan per night; on October 6, it was 526 yuan per night; and on October 7 and 8, the minimum price was only just over 400 yuan. The Qunar Big Data Research Institute advised: "Travelers who have not yet set out can take advantage of off-peak, low-cost trips, as travel costs in the latter half of the holiday can be nearly half cheaper than during peak periods. For example, for Beijing-Urumqi, departing on October 3, the lowest base fare is only 500 yuan. For the return trip, the lowest fare on October 7 is 2,360 yuan, while on October 9 it is only 964 yuan, more than half cheaper."

It is worth noting that a longer holiday and lower prices have also spurred more spontaneous, last-minute bookings. Qunar travel data showed that last-minute hotel bookings in popular cities increased by 30% year on year during the holiday period, with the cities seeing the highest last-minute booking volumes being Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, and Xi'an. "Last-minute booking refers to placing an order one to two days before check-in, and users' choices often depend on where it is cheaper and where it is more fun," the Qunar Big Data Research Institute analyzed. "Destinations with hot last-minute bookings all have well-developed infrastructure, high transportation accessibility, and relatively mature and richly supplied tourism products, along with low-priced airline tickets available for bargain hunters during the holiday period, making them popular choices for travelers who want to go at the spur of the moment without worrying about unpleasant surprises."