On October 1, the first day of the National Day holiday, travel demand was released in a concentrated manner. Office workers who had just started their break, "leave-stacking" travelers who took three days off to enjoy 13 consecutive days, and family tourists traveling with the elderly and children all converged on the road. Data from Fliggy showed that domestic ticket bookings for travel on October 1 increased by nearly 30% year on year, while overseas transfer and overseas local entertainment orders rose 43% and 37% respectively year on year. Data from the Tongcheng Travel platform showed that leave-stacking and staggered travel boosted demand for multi-leg trips, with some travelers already starting their second trip leg on the first day of the holiday. As of the latest booking data from Tuniu, the travel boom for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday had been heating up since September 24, with outbound travel and long-haul domestic travel leading the first wave of the holiday peak. The first day of the National Day holiday ushered in the peak of the entire holiday period, with diverse needs such as long-haul travel, in-depth travel, and family travel fully released. Based on Tuniu's latest booking data, the travel boom among Tuniu users during this year's National Day holiday will remain at a high level through October 6.

It was noted that on October 1, tourism markets across various regions got off to a strong start, with many scenic spots issuing notices that tickets were sold out and implementing visitor caps. Many scenic areas and attractions issued sold-out and flow-control notices. For example, the Jiuzhaigou scenic area issued a notice on September 30 stating that as of 9:00 that day, 41,000 tickets for October 1 had been booked, reaching its maximum carrying capacity. At the same time, the Jiuzhaigou scenic area reminded again that tickets for October 2 to 5 were also sold out, and visitors who had not booked tickets could choose to purchase tickets for other dates or visit surrounding attractions such as Shenxianchi and Jiawuhai Panda Park in Jiuzhaigou County. The Changbai Mountain scenic area also issued a notice on September 30 stating that as of 19:00 that day, ticket reservations for October 2-3 had reached the maximum carrying capacity of 41,000. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding likewise issued a notice on September 30 stating that due to the large holiday crowds, as of the time of the notice, tickets for the mornings of October 2, October 3, and October 4, 2026 had been sold out, while tickets for the afternoons of October 2 and October 3 were about to sell out. Meanwhile, as of the time of publication, reservation mini-programs for the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Sanxingdui Museum both showed that tickets through October 6 were fully booked. In addition, many popular scenic areas issued flow-control announcements. At 15:10 on October 1, Wansuishan Wuxia City announced that due to large visitor numbers, the scenic area had activated flow-control measures and stopped online ticket sales for October 1. An announcement from the Liangzhu Cultural Park in Ningbo stated: "Today's visitor flow is large, and traffic pressure on surrounding roads is heavy, with vehicle congestion already occurring. To improve the visitor experience, the scenic area has implemented flow control starting on the afternoon of October 1; visitors are advised to travel during off-peak times from October 2 to October 7." An announcement from the Tangmo scenic area stated: "As of 16:35 on October 1 (Thursday), the visitor reception volume at the Tangmo scenic area was approaching saturation. To ensure visitor safety and tourism experience quality, we remind you that the scenic area has activated flow-control measures and suggest you adjust your itinerary and choose to visit surrounding areas." The China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing also issued an announcement stating that due to a sharp rise in visitor flow, as of 14:02 on October 1, the number of visitors to the main building had reached the venue's safe carrying capacity. Dynamic management and temporary flow-control measures would be implemented at the main building entrance.

The extended holiday lengthened travel radius, and the "multi-city串游" trend became evident. Unlike previous years, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday (September 25 to 27) and National Day holiday (October 1 to 7) were separated by only three working days from September 28 to 30. The "take 3 days off for 13 days" leave-stacking plan connected the two holiday periods into a window of up to 13 days, creating a "super-long Golden Week." Guangzhi Travel, under Lingnan Group, said that cross-province travelers departing on the first day accounted for nearly half of its total travelers, with family groups serving as the main force. In terms of trip duration, unlike the pre-National Day pattern of using the Mid-Autumn holiday plus annual leave to create 8-10 day long-haul cross-province trips, among cross-province tours on the first day of the National Day Golden Week, 4-6 day group tours accounted for 80%. Travel data from Guangzhi Travel showed that October 1 was the peak for cross-province travel during the "take 3 days off for 13 days" Mid-Autumn and National Day super-long holiday, and the spending power of citizens for essential public holiday travel should not be underestimated. Data from multiple online travel platforms showed that on the first day of the National Day holiday, some people were still on their way to their destinations, while "leave-stacking" travelers had already begun their second trip leg. According to Ctrip platform data, the most prominent variable of this year's double holiday was "stacked leave for consecutive rest." The 13-day window split travel demand that would originally have been concentrated in the seven-day National Day period into three phases released successively: Mid-Autumn Festival, the leave-stacking window, and National Day, with travel radius gradually expanding accordingly. A report from Tongcheng Travel showed that hotel orders for stays within the first three days of the National Day holiday in popular destinations recorded double-digit growth compared with the same period last year, mainly contributed by people who departed during off-peak pre-holiday leave-stacking periods. Data showed that the first trip leg of pre-holiday off-peak travelers generally began during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, while the second trip leg began around the first day of the National Day holiday. In addition, to avoid large crowds and high ticket prices during peak departure times, some flight users chose multi-segment transfer plans on the first day of the holiday to "travel while moving." Qunar data also showed that during this year's double holiday, orders for "multi-city base travel" involving bookings at two or more cities increased by 30%, with average hotel booking duration exceeding three days; orders from travelers booking three cities and four or more cities increased by 35% and 53% respectively year on year, showing a trend that "the more cities stayed in, the more significant the growth." A Qunar report showed that on October 1, 20% of travelers had already reached a "second city," nearly 30% of travelers had booked hotels in two or more cities, average hotel stay length reached 3.2 days, and travelers staying in four or more cities grew 53%. The lengthened holiday drove notable growth in long-haul travel, with bookings for routes over 2,000 kilometers increasing by more than 40% year on year; young people collectively poured into scenic areas "with stories," and searches for "immersive performances," "fireworks shows," and "night tours" increased by more than 50% year on year. It is worth mentioning that even without leave-stacking, some travelers chose "multi-city串游" during this year's National Day holiday. A traveler from Beijing, Mr. Teng, told reporters that because his daughter wanted to visit Huangshan and Lushan, he planned trips to these two famous mountains during this year's October holiday. "We arrived at Huangshan today, started climbing in the afternoon, and will stay on the mountain top at night. We want to watch the sunrise from Huangshan," Mr. Teng told reporters. "Then we plan to go to Lushan on October 4." Yang Han, a researcher at the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, analyzed that "playing across both holidays" and "multi-city串游" have become a significant trend and are expected to make the 2026 National Day holiday a "super Golden Week," with cultural tourism热度 higher than before. Travelers are no longer satisfied with static scenery, but are personally setting out "to enter a story," heading to forests to "chase autumn," escaping cities to "go to counties," and crossing mountains and seas to "串游." In particular, content-driven玩法 are the hottest, and new "experience+" business formats are expected to drive new highs in the National Day cultural tourism market for more non-traditional destinations.

Bookings at homestays in multiple counties doubled, and high-star hotels in small cities became "dark horses." As the basic foundation of long-holiday travel, major cities remained the "top stream" of the Golden Week. Qunar Travel data showed that the most popular cities for hotel stays on the first day of National Day were Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Changsha, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Wuhan, and Guiyang. Meituan data showed that as of the first day of the National Day holiday, the top 10 cities for popular flight bookings during the holiday were Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Kunming, Xi'an, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, showing an obvious travel pattern of "north to west, south to down." On the other hand, "going to counties" is no longer "reverse tourism" but a "national trend." Qunar Travel data showed that on the first day of National Day, platform users would stay in hotels in more than a thousand counties nationwide, with Jiuzhaigou County, Yangshuo in Guangxi, Antu County in Jilin, Pingtan in Fujian, Burqin in Xinjiang, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, and Xiaojin County in Sichuan still among the top choices for popular county accommodations. Meituan data also showed that on the first day of the National Day holiday, a number of county-level destinations relying on famous mountains, rivers, and ethnic customs welcomed peak visitor flows. In Hejiang County and Daocheng County in Sichuan, Dafang County in Guizhou, Luoning County in Henan, Shexian in Anhui, Dazhu County in Sichuan, Yushan County in Jiangxi, Miyi County in Sichuan, Shiping County in Yunnan, and Qilian County in Qinghai, homestay booking growth was significant. Among them, homestay bookings in Hejiang County increased 139% year on year, while Daocheng County grew 117%. Hotel booking data from Meituan also showed that consumers are not only beginning to "go to counties," but also hope to stay more comfortably in small cities, with "stay in a high-star hotel for 100 yuan" becoming a popular experience for tourists in small cities. According to Meituan data, during the National Day holiday, high-star hotel bookings in Huixian in Henan, Jianshui in Yunnan, Zhenning in Guizhou, Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Burqin in Xinjiang, and Shangri-La in Yunnan showed obvious growth. In Ctrip's reservation rankings for popular scenic areas, natural attractions such as Zhangjiajie, Huangshan, Kanas, Mutianyu Great Wall, and Hemu strongly entered the top ten; the golden birch forests of Kanas, the autumn mountain scenery of Hemu with layered forests, the pine forests and sea of clouds in Huangshan in autumn, and the red leaves across the mountains of Mutianyu Great Wall constitute highly scarce autumn-exclusive cultural tourism resources. In addition, the "Must-Eat List" also boosted a number of food cities such as Jieyang. Meituan data showed that in the week before National Day, flight orders to Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport increased 18% year on year. Dianping data showed that on the first day of the holiday, traffic to Must-Eat List merchants in Jieyang rose 240% compared with the pre-holiday period, while list traffic growth in Zhongshan, Shantou, Yangzhou, Luoyang, Quanzhou, and other places was obvious, and overall list traffic for small-city "Must-Eat Lists" rose 79% compared with the pre-holiday period. On the first day of the holiday, traffic to Dianping's "Local Recommendations List" rose 207% compared with the pre-holiday period, and the top 10 treasure cities by "local recommendations" traffic included Shantou, Nanchang, Huzhou, Yantai, Jiaxing, Quanzhou, Taizhou, Zhuhai, Shaoxing, and Zhongshan. A relevant person in charge of Meituan Travel said that affected by "segmented travel," this year's National Day holiday is expected to see multiple small travel peaks. From county towns to overseas destinations, and from distinctive homestays to small-group in-depth experiences, when choosing destinations during this year's National Day, travelers place greater emphasis on whether a journey can provide a deep and unique experience. Meituan will continue to enrich the supply of accommodation, tickets, entertainment, and vacation products to help travelers complete travel decisions more conveniently and allow more local characteristics to be seen and experienced.