On the morning of October 1st, approximately 121,000 tourists and citizens gathered at Tiananmen Square to witness the national flag-raising ceremony. As the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday officially commenced, while some travelers remained stuck in traffic, others had already reached their destinations, with numerous scenic spots across the country experiencing crowded scenes on the first day.

According to MEITUAN-W Travel data, many attractions sold out their tickets on the first day of the National Day holiday. The top 10 most popular attractions were: Mount Tai Scenic Area, Universal Beijing Resort, Wansui Mountain Martial Arts City, Shanghai Disney Resort, Xi'an City Wall & Forest of Stone Steles Historical and Cultural Scenic Area, Laojun Mountain Scenic Area, Niushou Mountain Cultural Tourism Area, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, Zhengzhou Yinki Animal Kingdom, and Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park.

MEITUAN-W Travel data indicates that October 1st marked the peak travel day for the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period. During the holiday, the top 10 flight booking destinations were: Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chongqing, Xi'an, Nanjing, and Hangzhou.

Holiday travelers are staying significantly longer in the same cities, with the number of tourists staying 7-8 days in one city increasing by over 50% compared to the same period in 2024. From a destination perspective, cities including Chengdu, Beijing, Kunming, Xi'an, Chongqing, Guiyang, Changsha, Wuhan, Shanghai, and Qingdao ranked among the top nationwide for average tourist stay duration.

Beyond major cities, county-level destinations continue to demonstrate strong tourism appeal. Due to concentrated holiday consumption momentum, traditional popular attractions are reaching capacity saturation during holidays, prompting tourists to shift toward more cost-effective county-level niche cultural and tourism destinations. MEITUAN-W Travel data shows that National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival county-level tourism consumption bookings increased 51% compared to the same period last year. Counties including Dongtai in Jiangsu, Haining in Zhejiang, Jingxi in Guangxi, Puning in Guangdong, Erguna in Inner Mongolia, Tengchong in Yunnan, Yixing in Jiangsu, Keshiketeng Banner in Inner Mongolia, Daxin in Guangxi, and Jing County in Anhui saw tourism consumption bookings surge by over 100% compared to the previous year.

During the National Day holiday, many chose to travel during off-peak periods. According to MEITUAN-W Travel data, this year's holiday travel peak began on September 27th and is expected to continue until October 12th. Between "early vacation" (September 27th-October 8th) and "extended holiday" (October 1st-October 12th), more consumers opted to extend their holidays backward, with travel enthusiasm from October 9th-12th showing significant improvement compared to the same period last year.