China’s National Day holiday brings crowds to small counties and towns

Small counties and towns across China drew heavy tourist traffic during the National Day holiday, in a trend local outlets described as “reverse tourism” away from major scenic spots and big cities. Yicai reported that several small towns saw large inflows of visitors, and China News Service said small-town and small-city special-interest travel was “hot” during the holiday, with both outlets describing packed heritage streets, markets and craft events. [ 1 , 2 ]

The most detailed case was Qilian County in Qinghai’s Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Yicai reported that on 3 October the county received more than 100,000 visitors, traffic reached nearly 35,000 vehicles, and all of its more than 400 hotels and guesthouses were fully booked. About 500 people were placed in public-welfare beds, and the local tourism authority said some visitors without bookings were housed free of charge in heated student dormitories. On the morning of 4 October, Qilian’s tourism authority issued a notice telling visitors who could not find accommodation to call service numbers to reserve a public-welfare bed or change their itineraries. [ 1 ]

Yicai attributed the Qilian surge in part to the online popularity of Route 9, a self-drive route spanning Sunan County in Gansu and Qilian County in Qinghai, named for a loop shape visible from above and linking snow mountains, grasslands and gorges. The local tourism authority has begun developing it into a themed route, and Yicai said Qilian has been shifting from a passing point on the Qinghai-Gansu loop to a destination. [ 1 ]

Tongcheng Travel data cited by Yicai put bookings for county-level travel products during the 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day holiday 42% above the same period last year. The platform’s top-10 list of county-level destinations included Pingtan, Chun’an, Baoting, Zhongmu, Pingyao, Xianju, Anji, Antu, Jianshui and Dehua, with Pingtan hotel and guesthouse bookings up 62% year on year. Yicai also reported that a Weibo topic about small towns taking the top 10 slots for scenic-area popularity ranked first on the platform’s search list, and cited a Guangdong reform-studies association official saying younger travellers increasingly seek smaller, more distinctive experiences, while a Qunar research institute noted that small-town scenic areas have limited capacity. [ 1 ]

China News Service’s coverage was built around specific local events rather than visitor volumes: non-heritage craft and market activities on the new town old street in Jiaxing, Zhejiang; hand-made dried noodle making in Juehui village, Zhongjiang County, Sichuan; markets, craft products and museum visits in Jianchuan ancient town, Yunnan; and an immersive market in Yixing, Jiangsu, where a tourism company official said street visitor numbers reached 20,000 to 30,000 a day during the holiday, double a normal weekend. [ 2 ]

Both reports placed the trend against policy. Yicai reported that at a 24 September State Council Information Office press conference on culture and tourism under the 15th Five-Year Plan, an official of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the ministry would improve the sector’s spatial layout, including 32 tourism hub cities, 33 key tourism cities and 23 special tourism destinations, and would focus on county-level tourism. China News Service quoted academics and the head of the China Tourism Academy arguing that small towns need a distinctive identity, supporting policies and a longer consumption chain, with one expert calling the phenomenon a reflection of county-level economic transformation. [ 1 , 2 ]