School breaks across China during the autumn season are driving a surge in family travel bookings for November, giving the tourism industry a boost during what is typically a quieter period between the National Day holiday and the New Year.
Beijing, where schools do not have an autumn break, is among the destinations seeing stronger demand. Hotel bookings in the capital for November rose 130 percent year-on-year as of Oct 28, according to online travel platform Qunar.
Rail tickets to the capital are also in demand. Several high-speed trains from Qingdao to Beijing on the evening of Nov 4 and the morning of Nov 5 are sold out on 12306, China's official railway booking platform.
Schools in Qingdao, Shandong province, will begin their first autumn break on Nov 5. Schools in parts of Zhejiang, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces are also due to close for autumn holidays in November. Many are combining a three-day break with a weekend, giving families about five days to travel.
Beijing's museums, the Great Wall, and theme parks are popular destinations for families looking for leisure activities that also have educational value. Seven of the 20 most-booked hotel areas nationwide for November were in the capital, including those near Qianmen, the Temple of Heaven, Universal Beijing Resort, Tian'anmen Square, and Wangfujing, Qunar said.
The increase in bookings extends beyond Beijing. Nationwide, advance bookings for November hotel stays rose 50 percent year-on-year, while flight bookings increased 20 percent, Qunar said. Flight bookings for children aged 12 and under rose 160 percent, while bookings by adults aged 31 to 50 increased 50 percent.
Some routes are seeing higher airfares. The lowest available fare on one Fuzhou-to-Beijing flight for Nov 18 — the first day of the city's school break — was 1,440 yuan ($202), compared with 750 yuan for the same flight a day earlier, according to aviation data platform Umetrip.
Beyond major cities, destinations known for their autumn scenery are drawing visitors. November hotel bookings rose more than fivefold in Wushan county and more than fourfold in Fengjie county, both in Chongqing, Qunar said.
Yang Han, an analyst at Qunar's big data research institute, said that the expansion of autumn breaks could support family travel demand over a longer period in November. Some provinces have staggered the holidays across cities, spreading trips over several weeks.
