TONGCHENGTRAVEL released a report on the May Day holiday data: The booking popularity of high-star hotels far exceeds that of low-star hotels, with distinct characteristics of "urban leisure + rural vacation."

On May 5th, TONGCHENGTRAVEL (00780) released the "2025 May Day Holiday Travel Consumption Insight Report" (hereinafter referred to as "the report"). The report shows that thanks to favorable weather in most parts of the country during the first half of the holiday, as well as multiple factors such as staggered leave, the domestic tourism market during this year's May Day holiday is likely to reach a historical high, with travel enthusiasm expected to extend to the first weekend after the holiday. Among them, the domestic tourism market is thriving in both supply and demand, characterized by "urban leisure and rural micro-vacations." Data from TONGCHENGTRAVEL indicates that apart from popular tourist cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, "heading west" has become the mainstream trend in this year's long-distance domestic tourism market. Additionally, the travel enthusiasm in regions such as Chengdu-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou has significantly increased, and the popularity of "county tourism" remains strong.

In terms of outbound travel, Hanoi in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Phnom Penh in Cambodia rank high in travel enthusiasm, with overall booking enthusiasm doubling. Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia are also popular inbound tourism sources during the May Day holiday. With the accelerated recovery of international flights, starting from the increased enthusiasm for tourism in neighboring countries, China's inbound and outbound tourism market is ushering in a new development phase.

Popular Routes "Heading West," Chengdu-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou Become Holiday "Air Hubs"

During this year's May Day holiday, scenic photos from Yunnan-Guizhou and Chengdu-Chongqing flooded social media. Data from TONGCHENGTRAVEL shows that among the popular flight routes during the May Day holiday, those starting or ending in Chengdu-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou account for nearly half of the total. Tourists from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Wenzhou are flocking to the southwestern region represented by Chengdu, Chongqing, Guiyang, and Kunming. The round trips have transformed the popular tourist cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou regions into popular "air hubs." As urban white-collar workers from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen head west, tourists in Chengdu choose to take flights further west, heading straight to Lhasa.

This May Day holiday, not only the crowds at scenic spots are bustling, but also the passenger planes in the sky. According to predictions released by the Civil Aviation Administration before the holiday, the passenger transport volume during this year's May Day holiday is expected to be about 10.75 million, averaging 2.15 million per day, an increase of 8% year-on-year, setting a historical high for the same period. To cope with the peak passenger flow, the Civil Aviation Administration approved 173 additional flights during the May Day holiday, mainly involving 35 cities including Lijiang, Zhuhai, Dunhuang, Ganzhou, and Sanya.

Among the cities with the highest passenger booking volume announced by the Civil Aviation Administration before the holiday, Chengdu is the only city that ranks alongside Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in the top tier. Additionally, the high booking volume for regional routes is almost entirely concentrated in western cities, such as Xishuangbanna, Lhasa, Lijiang, Kashgar, and Hotan. The TONGCHENG Research Institute analyzes that the reason why western tourism destinations are highly favored by consumers from first-tier cities is that the infrastructure of tourism cities in the western region has undergone tremendous changes, significantly enhancing their tourism carrying capacity; On the other hand, the rich natural and cultural tourism resources in the western region, including mountains, lakes, deserts, and grasslands, have captured the infinite longing of urban white-collar workers for travel and spiritual experiences.

It is worth noting that Chengdu-Chongqing and Yunnan-Guizhou are not only the endpoints of popular flight routes but also the starting points of popular self-driving travel routes. Data from TONGCHENGTRAVEL shows that the top ten popular self-driving travel cities during the "May Day" holiday include: Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Suzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Kunming, and Quzhou.

Popular routes are hard to come by, "1-hour high-speed rail direct" becomes the mainstream of railway travel

According to data released by the Ministry of Transport, it is estimated that the total inter-regional personnel flow during the "May Day" holiday will reach approximately 1.42 billion person-times, a year-on-year increase of about 4.5%. With the volume of railway passenger transport reaching a historical high, the difficulty of purchasing train tickets (including high-speed trains and bullet trains) for popular routes during the "May Day" holiday has also increased. As long-distance railway tickets become hard to come by, people are turning their attention to short-distance railway tickets with "1-hour high-speed rail direct" service.

Data from TONGCHENGTRAVEL shows that this year's "May Day" holiday, nearly all of the top ten popular train routes in the country are "1-hour high-speed rail direct" routes. Specifically, they include: Guangzhou South - Shenzhen North; Kunming - Qujing; Beijing South - Tianjin; Changchun - Jilin (City); Kunming - Yuxi; Chongqing North - Wanzhou North; Guiyang North - Bijie; Suzhou - Shanghai; Chengdu East - Mianyang; Changsha - Zhuzhou.

From the perspective of popular "1-hour high-speed rail direct" routes, they not only cover popular first-tier tourist cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou but also include non-first-tier cities such as Qujing, Yuxi, Wanzhou, Bijie, Zhuzhou, and Mianyang. This aligns with the current trend of people avoiding the crowded popular tourist cities and choosing to travel to lesser-known cities to enjoy their holidays.

High-star hotel bookings are hotter than low-star, "county tours" surge in popularity during the holiday

In the face of the overwhelming crowds during the "May Day" holiday, various regions have made ample preparations for tourism reception services to pamper tourists. The front of the Rongchang District government in Chongqing is filled with vehicles from out-of-town tourists, and after the government cafeteria opened to tourists, over a thousand people flooded in during lunch; a scenic spot in Rizhao, Shandong, arranged for staff to drive and scatter clams to prevent tourists from missing out on clam digging. Additionally, during the "Labor Day" period, celebrities are busier than usual, with over 60 celebrity concerts taking place across the country during the "May Day" holiday. The combination of "celebrity concerts + intangible cultural heritage temple fairs" has become an important driving force behind the rise of "urban leisure." It is worth noting that the booking popularity of high-star hotels is stronger than that of low-star hotels, further confirming the holiday travel characteristics of "urban leisure and rural micro-vacations." According to TONGCHENGTRAVEL data, during this year's "May Day" holiday, the booking popularity of four-star hotels increased by 54% year-on-year, while the booking popularity of five-star hotels increased by 28% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the booking popularity of low-star hotels increased by 24% year-on-year. Faced with the extremely high popularity of long-distance travel, many consumers opted for nearby trips at the last minute, with the booking popularity of high-quality nearby trips that include quality accommodation and entertainment packages experiencing a three-digit increase during the "May Day" holiday. In addition, some tourism strong counties with a cluster of high-star and resort-type hotels not only attract tourists with rich cultural and entertainment activities but also enhance the cost-effectiveness and quality-price ratio of hotels.

On May 1st, the "Village Song Resounds in the Free Trade Port" 2025 Hainan Province "Village Song" performance event took place in the Yanuoda Tropical Rainforest, bringing visitors a cultural feast full of local flavor and the vitality of the free trade port. On May 2nd, the 2025 Wa Ethnic Group Sigangli Mo Ni Hei Carnival kicked off in Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County, Linchang City, Yunnan Province, where people applied paint made from natural materials on each other to express blessings, with the darker the paint, the longer the happiness and joy. The combination of rich entertainment activities and high-quality accommodation experiences further boosted the popularity of "county trips" during the May Day holiday.

From the aforementioned popular county tourism destinations, they not only include popular tourist spots such as Jiuzhaigou, Shennongjia, Beidaihe, and Wulingyuan but also encompass Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, located in the Pamir Plateau, closely connected with Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. This county not only has a unique geographical location but also boasts attractions such as Karakul Lake, Tahaman Wetland, and the Panlong Ancient Road, praised as the "ceiling of southern Xinjiang scenery." Additionally, Xingyi City in Guizhou's Qianxinan and Changhai County in Dalian, Liaoning, are also excellent choices for avoiding crowds and enjoying a comfortable mountain and sea experience.

The tourism market in neighboring countries is booming, opening a new pattern for inbound and outbound tourism markets

From the Qingming holiday to the May Day holiday, the convening of the Central Surrounding Work Conference and a series of important diplomatic activities have opened a new chapter for the inbound and outbound tourism market during the May Day holiday. According to TONGCHENGTRAVEL data, during the May Day holiday, the top ten popular outbound travel destinations and inbound tourist source regions included Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Notably, in the list of inbound tourist source regions, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, ranked second among popular inbound tourist source regions, while Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ranked fifth in both popular outbound travel destinations and inbound tourist source regions.

It is worth noting that hotel booking prices for popular travel destinations around the "May Day" holiday have decreased rather than increased, including average nightly prices for hotels in Bangkok, Thailand; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Jeju Island; and Singapore, all showing varying degrees of decline. At the same time, popular routes such as Shanghai-Tokyo, Shanghai-Osaka, Shanghai-Jeju Island, Beijing-Tokyo, and Guangzhou-Bangkok have also shown signs of price drops, thereby enhancing the cost-effectiveness of short-haul outbound travel during the holiday. Coupled with factors such as post-holiday leave arrangements, the popularity of the short-haul outbound travel market is expected to continue into the first weekend after the holiday.

In addition, prior to the "May Day" holiday, the upgrade of the outbound tax refund policy has also added new momentum to the inbound tourism market. On April 26, the Ministry of Commerce and six other departments issued a notice on "Further Optimizing the Outbound Tax Refund Policy to Expand Inbound Consumption," lowering the threshold for tax refunds from 500 yuan to 200 yuan and increasing the cash refund limit from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan. Combined with the earlier announcement by the State Administration of Taxation to promote "immediate refund upon purchase" for outbound tax refunds nationwide, this is expected to further enhance the consumption and purchasing power of inbound travelers in China