①From the perspective of OTA platforms and travel agencies, the prices of air tickets, hotels, and tour products during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday are basically the same as usual; ②Long-haul outbound tours during the National Day holiday are still popular, with many popular products from companies like Chunqiu Travel and Utour Group already sold out.
On September 8th, by Caixin Global (Reporter Hu Haoqiong), unlike last year's consecutive holidays during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday falls between the summer vacation and National Day, making the tourism market somewhat flat. Both OTA platforms and travel agencies stated that product prices are basically the same as the off-peak season.
Due to the short duration of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the majority of outbound travelers are mainly concentrated during the National Day holiday departure. Looking at the registration situation of various long-haul products under Utour Group (002707.SZ) and Guangzhou Lingnan Group Holdings (000524.SZ) such as Guang Zhi Lv and Chunqiu Travel, many long-haul products are close to full capacity, and some products are sold out early.
According to the information provided by various OTA platforms and travel agencies, domestic travel during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday mainly focuses on short-distance trips around nearby destinations.
Guang Zhi Lv mentioned that based on current inquiries and registration data, travelers' destinations are mainly within Guangdong Province and surrounding areas, with 1-3 day travel products being the primary choice. According to Ctrip's data, as of now, nearly half of the Mid-Autumn holiday orders are for nearby trips, with Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chongqing, and Qingdao being popular destinations.
However, in terms of prices, Cai Muzi, a researcher from Qunar, told Caixin that the performance of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday tourism market is relatively subdued, with airfare and hotel prices at off-peak levels. Among them, thirty percent of hotels in popular destinations have prices in line with the off-peak season. Guang Zhi Lv also revealed that the prices of travel products during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday are basically the same as usual.
It is worth noting that due to the impact of the AAA video game 'Black Myth: Wukong,' cities like Datong and Shuozhou in Shanxi have seen a growth in attention as gaming locations, with many companies launching related products. For example, Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels planned to launch the 'Follow Wukong to Explore Shanxi' hotel tour route, and Chunqiu Travel added 5 new small group tours in Shanxi.
However, some travel agencies told Caixin that even before the release of this game, Shanxi tourism was already popular, so after the introduction of the 'Black Myth: Wukong' themed travel routes, the booking situation for this product during the Mid-Autumn period has been quite good.
In terms of air ticket prices, domestic air tickets during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday have further decreased compared to the summer peak. Data from Hanglvzhongheng shows that as of September 5, the average price of domestic flights during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday (excluding taxes) is about 710 yuan, a decrease of more than 20% compared to the summer peak.
Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, stated that during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the domestic tourism market showed an uneven peak and off-peak season. In terms of prices and number of travelers, the 3-day holidays of Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Tomb-Sweeping Day did not fully boost the tourism market, with the short holidays and long working days being the main influencing factors.
Long-haul outbound tours mainly focus on the National Day holiday, 'This year, the cost-effectiveness of outbound tours is significantly higher compared to domestic tours.' a travel agency professional told a Caixin reporter.
So far, the popularity of long-haul outbound tours departing in September and October by Chunqiu Tour continues to rise, mainly involving Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Southern Europe, the United Kingdom, Northern Europe, etc. Among them, the products related to Croatia and the Balkans, including the Small Balkan Circuit departing before November 11, are fully sold out. Trips related to the 'Munich Beer Festival' in Germany (held from September 22 to October 7) are also sold out.
Regarding Utour Group, as of now, the number of participants in its high-end island outbound tour products has increased by about 75% compared to the same period last year. In addition, with respect to Southern European products, the trend of early registration is most pronounced in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and other places, with some Southern European products being fully booked two months in advance. Particularly popular destination products start accepting registrations at least 5 months before departure. Products in Spain are basically sold out.
As of September 5, data from Hanglvzhongheng shows that the average price of inbound and outbound flights during this year's National Day holiday (excluding taxes) has dropped by about 8% compared to the same period last year.