On October 6th, the Mid-Autumn Festival coincided with the middle segment of the National Day and Mid-Autumn golden week, injecting a strong atmosphere of "reunion" and "moon appreciation" into the holiday period, while driving a new wave of enthusiasm in the tourism market. A report released by GZL Travel, under Lingnan Group, shows that driven by the 8-day "super golden week," citizens' travel intentions have significantly strengthened, demonstrating characteristics of "dual growth" in both domestic and overseas tourism, specifically manifesting in two mainstream trends: spending the Mid-Autumn Festival during travel, and early-departure tourists gradually returning home while choosing short-distance reunion tours within the province and surrounding areas.
Mid-Autumn Festival Becomes Another Travel Peak During the National Day Holiday
Statistical data from GZL Travel shows that Mid-Autumn Festival welcomed another travel peak during the National Day and Mid-Autumn holiday period. According to reports, among the tour groups organized during the National Day period, over 50% spanned the Mid-Autumn period, meaning most tourists celebrated the festival in distant places, primarily those participating in domestic long-distance and overseas tours.
Night tours and moon-viewing became popular activities during the Mid-Autumn Festival. MEITUAN-W and Dianping data shows that starting from October 4th, user demand for moon-viewing significantly increased, with "Mid-Autumn moon-viewing" and "moon-viewing restaurants" being popular search terms, with search volume growing over 100% day-over-day. Among these, Suzhou's Humble Administrator's Garden became a dark horse scenic spot for Mid-Autumn night tours with its classic night tour project "Zhuozheng Wenya," offering an immersive experience that combines light and shadow art with classical garden aesthetics. MEITUAN-W and Dianping data shows that during the dual festival period, Humble Administrator's Garden search volume increased 102% year-over-year, ticket booking volume grew nearly 436%, with "Zhuozheng Wenya" searches increasing 200%.
"Ancient village and town night tours" were equally popular. Approaching Mid-Autumn, on MEITUAN-W and Dianping, night tour order volume for ancient village and town scenic areas increased over 240% compared to last year's Mid-Autumn, with Nanxun Ancient Town, Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, and Datong Ancient City ranking among the top nationwide in search popularity, with Datong Ancient City showing the highest popularity and search growth exceeding 294%.
Meanwhile, reunion dinners, as the highlight of each year's Mid-Autumn Festival, led more consumers to choose "tourism reunion." MEITUAN-W and Dianping data shows that among this year's Mid-Autumn restaurant booking users, the proportion of non-local consumers increased 30% year-over-year. A relevant manager from Chen Mapo Tofu (flagship store), a time-honored restaurant on Chengdu's "Must Eat List," introduced: "Seats for Mid-Autumn Day were fully booked before National Day, including visitors from other cities who came to experience Chengdu's specialty cuisine and watch Sichuan opera face-changing performances." Dianping data shows that many restaurants suitable for family reunions were fully booked on Mid-Autumn Day. "We were fully booked half a month in advance," said Luo Muzi, Deputy General Manager of Hongzi Chicken Phoenix Tower (Aomen Road Store), a newly listed restaurant on Shanghai's 2025 "Must Eat List." "Local people mostly come for reunion dinners. Because we made the list this year, seats were booked up earlier for this Mid-Autumn."
Seasonal ingredients including swimming crabs, hairy crabs, and osmanthus appeared on Mid-Autumn dinner tables nationwide. According to MEITUAN-W and Dianping data, in the past week, the number of restaurants launching group-buying deals for new seasonal ingredients increased 145% year-over-year. "Our Mid-Autumn dishes like osmanthus-smoked flounder and drunken crab are almost must-orders for every table," Luo Muzi introduced.
As of 14:00 on October 6th, online queue numbers at restaurants on MEITUAN-W increased nearly 40% year-over-year, with some "Must Eat List" establishments seeing queue numbers approaching 2,000. Relevant managers from MEITUAN-W and Dianping stated that this year's Mid-Autumn coinciding with National Day created a new trend of distant tourism reunions, in addition to local family gatherings.
Hotel Bookings for Final Three Days of National Day and Mid-Autumn Holiday Increase Nearly 1.4 Times Year-over-Year
On the other hand, many tourists chose to return home for Mid-Autumn "reunion" or start another "short-distance tour" journey. A report from Qunar Travel shows that Mid-Autumn Festival became the return peak of the National Day long holiday. From flight booking conditions, nearly 40% of users on the platform departed by air on Mid-Autumn Day (October 6th), making it the day with the highest number of return passengers. Meanwhile, evening flights and moon-viewing flights became popular search terms on the platform.
GZL Travel's report also shows that Mid-Autumn Festival significantly boosted family-based short-distance, high-quality surrounding tour demand, with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region showing particularly outstanding tourism performance on Mid-Autumn Day, with tourists mostly preferring 2-4 day short trips. Therefore, during October 6-7, attention to short-distance products such as group tours, hot spring and beach direct buses, and resort hotel bookings significantly increased, with Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao tourist numbers growing over 11% compared to those departing on the 4th-5th, with moon-viewing, autumn scenery, cuisine, and special performances being more favored.
Qunar Travel data shows that hotel booking volume for the final three days of the National Day and Mid-Autumn holiday (6th, 7th, 8th) increased nearly 1.4 times compared to the same period last year. In the latter half of the holiday, the top 10 cities with highest booking volume on Qunar platform were Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Xi'an, Changsha, and Qingdao; the 10 small cities with highest booking popularity were Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Yangshuo in Guangxi, Altay in Xinjiang, Yanbian in Jilin, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Chun'an in Zhejiang, Pingtan in Fujian, Anji in Zhejiang, Leishan in Guizhou, and Fenghuang in Hunan.
Additionally, Qunar Travel homestay data shows that homestay bookings for October 6-8 in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other places increased 20% year-over-year. These bookings were mainly from local tourists, focusing on suburban tourism and staggered mini-holidays, with popular areas concentrated in tourism-rich, scenic suburban locations. Among them, Beijing's three fastest-growing homestay booking areas were Shunyi, Mentougou, and Changping, while one of Shanghai's fastest-growing homestay booking areas, Dishui Lake, not only has lakes and is close to the sea, but is also within 30 minutes' drive from both the China Maritime Museum and Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park.