CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- As the summer vacation winds down with just a week left, the tourism market has surged to new heights, just like this summer's soaring temperatures. Building on the high travel volumes from last year, booking rates for flights and hotels on the Qunar platform have continued to rise steadily. Notably, bookings for county-level hotels during the summer vacation have increased by an impressive 113% month-over-month. In terms of traveler numbers, this summer could easily be considered the hottest travel season in history.

According to data analysis from Qunar’s Big Data Research Institute, tourism consumption this summer has become more rational and diverse, reflecting a K-shaped trend with polarization at both ends: county-level tourism has flourished, with hotel booking growth outpacing the overall market; at the same time, outbound and inbound tourism has rebounded strongly, with more residents from smaller cities now traveling abroad. Chongqing, in particular, has secured its place on multiple lists of popular destinations.

Among the counties and county-level cities with the highest hotel bookings on the Qunar platform, the top ten include Yanji in Jilin Province, Libo in Guizhou Province, Enshi in Hubei Province, Xingyi in Guizhou Province, Mile in Yunnan Province, Burqin in Xinjiang, Kangding in Sichuan Province, Leishan in Guizhou Province, Antu in Jilin Province, and Pingyao in Shanxi Province. These destinations are characterized by their cool climates and convenient transportation, with Guizhou alone claiming three spots on the list.

Interestingly, this summer has seen a unique "two-way rush" as residents from both large and small cities swapped places for their vacations, seeking fresh experiences in each other's locales.

Qunar's big data reveals that most travelers to these county-level destinations hail from first- and second-tier cities, with nearly 80% being non-local visitors, and over half coming from other provinces. The top five cities contributing the most visitors to the counties are Chengdu, Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. Among these, the number of visitors from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen has increased by 43% compared to last summer.

Conversely, among tourists heading to first-tier cities this summer, the growth rate of visitors from third-tier cities and their surrounding counties has been the highest. Air ticket bookings from small airports have risen by 70% year-over-year. The top five destinations for these travelers are Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing. Additionally, air ticket bookings for travelers departing from small airports in third-tier cities and flying to major cities have increased by 14% year-over-year.

Cai Muzi, a researcher at Qunar’s Big Data Research Institute, noted that improvements in infrastructure and the creation of unique tourism experiences in many counties have made these once "hidden" destinations more appealing to consumers from first- and second-tier cities. Simultaneously, as the spending power of youth from small towns has grown, more residents from smaller cities and towns are exploring first-tier cities. This "two-way rush" of travelers from both big and small cities is helping to balance the development of cultural and tourism economies across regions. The exchange of tourists between these different settings also opens up new opportunities for local tourism industries.

Looking at the broader trends of the summer travel season, we can see that the peak of the 2024 season has been delayed by one to two weeks compared to 2023, with passenger flow remaining strong later than last year. This popularity is expected to continue until August 30. The top ten destinations for this summer in China are Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Kunming, and Changsha.

 (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)