Fliggy presents its Mid-Autumn Festival Travel Forecast for this year

Alibaba’s online travel platform Fliggy released the newest edition of its Mid-Autumn Festival Travel Forecast just in time for one of the busiest seasons of the year.

Based on observations of the East Asian travel market over the past few weeks, there has been a significant increase in travel bookings compared to figures registered at the time of this year’s Dragon Boat Festival.

In terms of domestic travel in China, hotel bookings in the country are up by 60 percent compared to where they were during the same period in 2019. Of these, upscale hotel and boutique homestays made up around 60 percent of all bookings.

The forecast also noted how rates for domestic flights and hotels are lower than during the same period last year but slightly higher than in 2019.

What to do and where to go

In terms of getting to specific destinations, the Fliggy forecast noted how car rentals doubled in time for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, making numbers considerably higher than those registered the year before the pandemic. 

A number of seasonal activities have also piqued the interest of would-be travellers, with moon viewings, flower appreciation events, lanterns displays, and temple fairs. Interest in these events is up by 60 percent from where it was last year.

The report shows that popular destinations for the season include Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Chongqing, Wuhan, and Xi’an. At the same time, the report also noted increased interest in emergent destinations like the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Jingdezhen, Yanbian, Datong, and Diqing.

For those heading overseas, many of the trips booked are off to Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.