During this year's National Day holiday, Ms. Shi did something she never dared to imagine before: took 3 days off, 13 days off, and traveled to three cities in Thailand: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya. She didn't rush to attractions every day and instead did massages, learned Thai cuisine, pet yoga, and Muay Thai in the local area. In Ms. Shi's own words, in the past, traveling was about seeing scenic spots, but this time it's about living.

The National Day holiday in 2026 is a bit special: with only 3 working days between it and the Mid Autumn Festival holiday, "please take 3 days off" connects the two holidays into a 13 day travel window.

According to Meituan data, the number of long-term travel orders exceeding 800 kilometers during the "National Day" holiday increased by 25% year-on-year, 31% of users stayed at a destination for 3 days or more, and the number of hotel stay orders increased by 31% year-on-year. The average number of tourists visiting about 1.2 cities per person has increased compared to last year. Among them, by combining transportation modes such as airplanes and high-speed trains, the number of users connecting three or more cities at once increased by 54% year-on-year.

Wang Jun, a senior researcher at Meituan Research Institute, said that tourists are increasingly valuing the connection experience between different stages of a journey, hoping to delve into the destination and experience a more local lifestyle. Travel demand extends from basic bookings such as airline tickets and hotels to local consumption scenarios such as dining and specialty shops that locals often visit. The experience economy is changing the income structure and competitive logic of the cultural and tourism industry.

Experience is reshaping cultural tourism

Ms. Shi experienced the joy of "slow play" for the first time abroad with the phrase "please take 3 days off 13": she went to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya, with almost no necessary attractions on her itinerary. Her most memorable experience was making clothes: she chose her own fabric, which came from India, and the clothing she made had a Thai feel. The tailor will tailor the clothes according to the individual's needs and pick them up in two or three days, and the price is not expensive. She also spent 20 yuan renting a bicycle for a day and rode all over Bangkok. "These are not scenic spots, but I think this is Thailand," she said.

Ms. Shi calculated that the flight departing on September 28th was much cheaper than the previous three days before the National Day holiday, and most of the money saved was spent on local experiences. "In the past, when going abroad, flight tickets were a big part, and I couldn't bear to spend more money when I arrived. This time, I have plenty of time and cheap flight tickets, and I am willing to spend more for the experience.

Meituan data also shows that tourists have more diverse consumption needs and deeper experiences at their destinations. Taking Sichuan as an example, the search volume for hot spring baths during the holiday period increased by 127% year-on-year. The search popularity for "24-hour bath center" and "bath center buffet" increased by 301% and 283% respectively year-on-year. The search popularity for "tie dye experience" increased by 78% year-on-year, while "ceramic DIY handmade" increased nearly fivefold year-on-year. Taking Dali as an example, according to data from Dianping, the overall traffic growth of entertainment destinations such as tie dye experience, Liuyun Farm, and paragliding base on the list is close to 110%.

Consumers' willingness to pay for experiences is increasing, and the perception of cultural and tourism suppliers is the most sensitive.

The Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town, located in Kaiping, Jiangmen, Guangdong, has a history of over a hundred years. In the past, tourists would leave the ancient town after strolling, and tickets became the only source of income for the town. But in 2025, after the 687 century old arcade and watchtower buildings in Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town were renovated and restored, they began to showcase overseas Chinese culture in the form of performances, attempting to retain tourists.

Song Yinghui, Deputy General Manager of Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town, said that in order to watch more than ten performances, tourists' stay time has been extended from 2 hours to more than 7 hours. "The consumption content of 7 hours is more diverse. Consumers have lunch at noon, a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and may stay after watching the fireworks show in the evening. At present, the proportion of revenue from tickets, hotels, and secondary consumption in Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town is roughly 5:3:2. Tickets are still the mainstay, but the proportion of hotels and secondary consumption is increasing, "said Song Yinghui. The cost of performing arts accounts for about 20% of the total cost, and compared to the increase in cost, the growth rate of revenue and profit is higher. During the National Day holiday in 2026, the revenue of Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town increased by 70% year-on-year, and the average customer price rose from 100 yuan to over 200 yuan. The occupancy rate of guest rooms in the scenic area increased by 48% year-on-year, and the revenue increased by 80%; The revenue from secondary consumption such as electric scooters and rowing boats increased by 72%.

In Guizhou, known as the "World Bridge Museum", a new style of bridge has been developed, which was originally a transportation facility. The Baling River Bridge, which opened in 2009, has explored bridge climbing for sightseeing and high-altitude bungee jumping; The Pingtang Bridge, completed in 2019, attempts to integrate with the hotel industry through the "Sky Bridge" service area.

In Zhenfeng County, Guizhou Province, the Huajiang Canyon Bridge, with a total length of 2890 meters and a distance of 625 meters from the river surface, will be opened to traffic in September 2025. This "world's first high bridge" not only has sightseeing elevators, glass sightseeing halls, high-altitude bungee jumping and other experiential businesses on the bridge, but also service areas, homestays, and study bases under the bridge. More than 30 tourism formats have been planned for the entire bridge, with the theme of "Bridge Encounters Triassic, Cloud Crossing Ancient Ocean" to construct a service area IP.

Xiang Min, director of the Ethnic Culture and Tourism Center in Zhenfeng County, said that in the past year of operation, the average stay time of tourists has been extended from 1.5 hours to 4 hours, and the proportion of secondary consumption has increased from less than 10% to 33%. The per capita consumption has doubled compared to the initial opening period. "The core of the experience economy is to transform the 'passing through thinking' into a 'staying consumption thinking'.

Hotels are also transforming from a 'foothold' to an 'experience field'.

During the National Day holiday, Yaduo Hotel in Shanghai carried out intangible cultural heritage Paper Cuttings hand work activities in the hotel in combination with the needs of parent-child customers. The children completed their own works under the guidance of hotel staff. Zhejiang Coffee Hotel (Qingdao Wusi Square Wanda Plaza Branch), a subsidiary of Jinjiang Hotels, combines Qingdao landmark elements such as Laoshan and Maimai Island to launch a "coffee blind box": guests can draw the blind box and receive a special cup of coffee and a "clue card" as a gift. With the clue, they can check in and return to the hotel, and can also exchange for a second "return coffee", connecting the hotel space with city attractions.

In Danzhou, Hainan, Shudetang Mutang Flower Blossom Hotel, in collaboration with Meituan, has launched experience projects such as paddleboarding and handmade crafts. Rooms were mostly booked from October 1st to 6th this year, and the overall passenger flow during the holiday was better than that during the summer. The customer base was mainly composed of families with children and multiple groups of families traveling together, accounting for about 60%. The Kunming Grand Hyatt Hotel has launched seasonal activity experiences such as "room+sailboat" and "room+mushroom collection", with hotel bookings increasing by 275% year-on-year in the three days before the National Day holiday.

At the foot of the Huangling Scenic Area in Shangrao, Xiaocao Mei, a homestay and Hanfu shop operator, sells Hanfu clothing for free and packages it with homestays to increase their attractiveness. She told the Economic Observer reporter that current homestays provide additional services, but some homestays only hang a few sets of Hanfu in the building, which is different from those with specialized Hanfu shops that can provide makeup.

Featured homestays can indeed attract tourists to stay for an extra night. According to Meituan data, from September 30th to October 7th, the proportion of guests staying at Wuyuan homestays for 2 nights or more is close to 20%.

What is the explanation for experience homogenization

The experience economy has become popular, and the problem of homogenization has also emerged.

Dai Bin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, once pointed out that "no matter where you go, you can see 'where the wind of missing you finally blows', very similar." Tourists walking into antique neighborhoods around the country will find that bluestone roads with red lanterns, upturned eaves and antique shops have become almost standard, snack streets are filled with the same grilled sausages and milk tea, and the refrigerator stickers and cultural and creative ice cream in souvenir shops are also similar.

Song Yinghui has a clear understanding of this. "Nowadays, many ancient towns rely on performing arts to revitalize themselves. But if everyone performs, how much difference can there be in the same ancient town performance? In the end, it is still another kind of homogenization.

The differentiated approach of Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town is to combine local culture. Chikan Ancient Town launched a new large-scale kung fu stage play "The Grandmaster" on this year's National Day, combining traditional martial arts such as Wing Chun, Xingyi, and Bagua with multimedia light and shadow, and mechanical stages, showcasing scenes such as tea house discussions on martial arts, Jinlou battles, and rain battles. Song Yinghui said that this is their first attempt to create a paid theater, and the feedback from tourists, especially those from Guangdong, is good.

In Song Yinghui's view, the iteration of the performing arts in Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town can be divided into three stages: the initial stage is simple song and dance performances, the second stage is to improve the quality of the entire performing arts program through stage design upgrades, and the third stage focuses more on interaction and empathy with tourists. At present, Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town usually presents 13 large-scale performances every day, and nearly 100 performances during the National Day holiday.

In recent years, NPCs (non character players) in scenic areas have become the "traffic code" of the cultural and tourism industry. The "Wang Po" of Kaifeng Wansui Mountain Wuxia City has gained popularity through live media interaction, and the "Snow Cake Monkey" of Changchun Animal and Plant Park has driven the annual visitor flow of the park from 700000 to 3 million. But in terms of NPC strategy, Chikan Overseas Chinese Ancient Town does not have a fixed top IP.

Song Yinghui said that the nearly 20 NPCs in the park do not have fixed roles and will change their roles based on monthly festivals and activities. They are more inclined to create content and incubate NPCs based on activities. Last December Christmas, the scenic area changed the image of Santa Claus to "Aobai" because the design was a bit similar, which immediately went viral. "The topic of 'Aobai' alone has reached 1.2 billion views

Foreign tourists are also paying for differentiated supply. Song Yinghui said that the proportion of overseas tourists in the scenic area is currently around 8% to 10%, with an annual growth rate of basically triple digits. Chikan Ancient Town is located in Kaiping, Jiangmen and is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. It has a certain degree of popularity in Southeast Asia and the regions of North and South America. Every April during the Qingming Festival, Chikan Ancient Town will hold a "Overseas Chinese Return to Hometown" event to promote its products overseas. Ctrip data also shows that the proportion of cultural scenic spots in inbound scenic spot bookings this year has increased from about 32% in 2024 to about 43%.

The differentiation of the Huajiang Canyon Bridge comes from its engineering wonders and technological barriers. The bridge has obtained two Guinness World Record certifications, "Highest Bridge" and "Highest Bridge Water Curtain Light and Shadow Show", and has been selected as one of Time magazine's "100 Best Places in the World in 2026". There are sightseeing elevators, glass sightseeing halls, truss landscape corridors, high-altitude racing tracks, high-altitude bungee jumping and other extreme sports on the bridge. Underneath the bridge are the Yundu service area, surrounding homestays and anchoring areas.

Hu Sen, the founder of the Song You Hanfu Pavilion brand, said that many consumers will dress up and go to Qingming Shanghe Garden and Wansui Mountain Wuxia City for sightseeing. Most customers come in the morning to do makeup, wear Hanfu to scenic spots for photos, interact with NPCs, and take videos, and then return their clothes at night. During this year's National Day holiday, the business of Songyou Hanfu Pavilion has more than doubled compared to last year.

In addition to providing Hanfu rental, makeup and photography services, during this year's National Day holiday, Songyou Hanfu Pavilion also launched a new business: customized travel immersive experience routes. The scenic area is very large, and there will be dedicated personnel in the store to introduce NPC interactions, play games, and recommend local delicacies for tourists.

The reason for launching this business was that a tourist from Shanxi went to Qingming Shanghe Garden to play, and the store staff recommended a customized immersive experience route for the customer, which had a good effect. Hu Sen found that tourists do have a demand for exclusive immersive experiences, so he formed a team specifically to do this business. Most of the team members are retired NPCs from the scenic area who have undergone systematic training and obtained a tour guide certificate before they can take up their posts. "We will tell them where to play and where to eat in Kaifeng, how to experience scenic programs, and the interactive features of different NPCs," they said.

The differentiation of Song You Hanfu Pavilion is reflected in the details of its services. Hu Sen said that if customers are not satisfied, they can change their makeup or change their makeup artist; In the end, if the customer is still not satisfied, they can remove their makeup and leave the store. The store will also provide compensation for any related delays. Clothing and accessories are also constantly updated, and stores purchase new styles every week. The Wansui Mountain Scenic Area has opened new Gothic and Lolita style scenes, and stores have simultaneously launched corresponding cosplay costumes and makeup styles.

The experience economy is not a panacea, "said a researcher in the cultural and tourism industry." When everyone experiences, the experience itself will also become homogeneous. The real barrier lies in the deep exploration of local culture and the continuous polishing of service details.