Beijing Utour International Travel Service Co Ltd

On August 20, the A-share tourism sector strengthened amid intraday volatility. Nanjing Commercial & Tourism and Cuivei Co. hit their daily limit up, while Baiona Qiancheng, Jiuhua Tourism, Jinpu Landscape, Ciwen Media, and Shaanxi Tourism also rose in tandem. On the news front, according to the State Council General Office's notice on holiday arrangements for 2026, the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday runs from September 25 to 27, a total of 3 days with no adjusted working days, while the National Day holiday runs from October 1 to 7 with adjusted working days, a total of 7 days. The two holidays are separated by only 3 working days. If consumers apply for leave during those 3 working days, they can piece together a super-long 13-day holiday from September 25 to October 7. Entering August, the "take 3 days off for a 13-day break" leave strategy quickly gained momentum in the tourism consumption market, directly driving a rapid rise in search and booking interest for long-haul and outbound travel. Inquiry volumes for related products on online travel platforms such as Ctrip, Tongcheng, and Tuniu rose noticeably. According to data from Qunar, as of August 10, booking interest for popular domestic cities during the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays grew 30% year on year, while interest in popular outbound cities grew more than 50%. According to data from U-Tour, as of August 12, travel products for the National Day golden week had already accounted for 75% of customer intake, with the pace of bookings significantly faster than the same period last year, and overall trip registrations up 70% year on year. According to big data from the official civil aviation direct sales platform Umetrip, as of August 11, bookings for domestic flight tickets with travel dates from September 25 to October 7 exceeded 1.71 million, up about 7% year on year, while bookings for international and regional flight tickets exceeded 1.28 million, up about 11% year on year. BOC International analysis pointed out that this year's Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays are only 3 days apart, and some consumers have already pieced together a long holiday through the "take 3 days off for a 13-day break" approach. A longer holiday period is expected to help unleash demand for long-haul and cross-border travel. In the first half of 2026, domestic residents made 3.463 billion trips, an increase of 178 million over the same period last year, up 5.4% year on year, with total travel spending reaching 3.21 trillion yuan, up 2.0% year on year. With State Council approval, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for building a strong tourism nation, proposing that by 2030 domestic residents will make 8.3 billion trips, total domestic travel spending will reach 7.7 trillion yuan, and inbound tourism will reach 190 million visits with total spending exceeding 150 billion US dollars.

U-Tour, a brand under Utour Group, announced it will launch more than 50 cruise itineraries covering the globe between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027. Zhang Lei, general manager of U-Tour, said at a themed launch event on August 18 that the global cruise market continues to recover, and China's outbound cruise vacation demand has entered a new growth cycle. The company will keep deepening product innovation and improving its cruise product portfolio.

Driven by the chance to take three days of leave for a 13-day break, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day outbound travel market has ignited early, with some travel agencies seeing bookings arrive much earlier than usual. Li Mengran, media and public relations manager at Utour, said that bookings for Mid-Autumn and National Day products have already exceeded 70 percent of capacity, and total traveler numbers are up 70 percent from the same period last year. Europe is the main driver, accounting for nearly half of all outbound bookings, with the number of travelers to Europe up about 140 percent year on year. Boosted by continued demand linked to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, traveler numbers to North America have surged 480 percent year on year, while Australia and New Zealand destinations have seen outbound volumes more than triple compared with the same period last year. GZL said prices for popular departure dates such as the first Mid-Autumn tour group and the exact National Day holiday dates are 20 to 25 percent higher than regular September weekday prices, and it expects this year's Mid-Autumn and National Day outbound market to see three waves of departure peaks. Data from Umetrip shows that as of August 14, more than 1.35 million flight tickets had been booked on international and regional routes for travel between September 25 and October 7, up about 11 percent year on year.