The statutory holiday for the Spring Festival in 2026 will reach 9 days, which is called the "longest in history." Factors such as the later holiday time, the suitable climate, and the distance from the New Year's Day holiday have significantly amplified people's willingness to travel, and the overall travel popularity is significantly higher than that of the 2025 Spring Festival.
This week has entered the peak period of returning home and traveling in advance. A reporter from China Business News recently discovered in a recent interview that hotel prices in some small cities that were not mainstream tourist destinations in the past, such as Shantou and Jieyang, doubled during the Spring Festival, and some hotels even increased more than 20 times. On the contrary, the prices of hotels in some first-tier cities dropped during the Spring Festival holiday, with some hotels falling by more than 50%. The industry believes that the popularity of small town cultural tourism has a lot to do with local folk customs, New Year flavors and the spread of Internet social platforms.
Hotel prices in small towns have increased 20 times, while hotels in first-tier cities have reduced prices.
When traveling during the Spring Festival, hotel and transportation costs will generally increase, but it is rare for the increase to be as high as 10 times or even more than 20 times.
After checking online travel platforms such as Ctrip today, a reporter from China Business News found that the prices of a large number of hotels in Shantou increased significantly during the Spring Festival holiday, ranging from 4 times to more than 20 times. For example, the room rate of Shantou Trevina Hotel (Shantou Xiaoyuan Branch) ranges from 94 yuan to 119 yuan per night on weekdays, but the price during the Spring Festival holiday has risen to more than 1,400 yuan per night. The room price on February 19 was as high as 2,450 yuan per night, which is equivalent to more than 20 times the usual price. The usual price of Atour Hotel on Huashan South Road in Shantou Vientiane City is more than 580 yuan per night, but the price during the Spring Festival holiday rises to 3,577 yuan per night, which is equivalent to about 6 times the usual price. Shantou Yuese Meisu (Longyan South Road Food Street Store) daily prices range from more than 100 yuan to more than 450 yuan per night, but during the Spring Festival holiday, the price rises to 1,208 yuan per night, an increase of 3 to 8 times. Vienna International Hotel (Shantou High-Speed Railway Station East Square Branch) usually has a room rate of more than 260 yuan to more than 400 yuan per night, but during the Spring Festival holiday, the price has increased to more than 1,500 yuan per night, which is equivalent to 4 to 6 times the normal price.
Hotel prices are also rising not only in Shantou, but also in Jieyang, Chaozhou, Xiamen and other places. For example, the price of Ji Hotel (Jieyang Building) ranges from 302 yuan to 458 yuan per night on weekdays, but during the Spring Festival, the price is as high as 1,494 yuan per night, which is about 5 times the usual price. The normal price of Atour Hotel on Jinxianmen Qilou Street in Jieyang ranges from 376 yuan to 535 yuan per night. During the Spring Festival holiday, it rises to 1,855 yuan per night, which is about five times the normal price. Vienna International Hotel (Chaozhou Ancient City Paifang Branch) has room rates ranging from 278 yuan to 613 yuan per night on weekdays, and 1,899 yuan per night during the Spring Festival holiday, which is about 7 times the lowest price on weekdays. Confucian Select Hotel (Xiamen Zhongshan Road Garden Botanical Garden Branch) daily prices range from 278 yuan to 464 yuan per night, and the highest price during the Spring Festival holiday is 1,022 yuan per night, which is nearly four times the normal price.
What is quite interesting is that hotels under the Atour brand, such as Shanghai and other first-tier cities, did not rise but fell during the Spring Festival holiday. Online travel platforms such as Ctrip show that the usual price of Atour Hotel Dabaishu in Wujiaochang, Shanghai is 449 yuan to 488 yuan per night. During the Spring Festival holiday, the price dropped to 399 yuan per night, a decrease of about 20%. The price of Ji Hotel (Shanghai Jiangwan Town Metro Station Branch) ranges from 440 yuan to 493 yuan per night on weekdays. During the Spring Festival holiday, the price drops to 276 yuan per night, a drop of more than 40%.
The prices of some high-end hotels also drop during the Spring Festival. For example, the Shanghai Baohua Marriott Hotel’s daily room rates range from more than 1,000 yuan to more than 1,400 yuan per night. During the Spring Festival, the price drops to 698 yuan to 754 yuan per night, a drop of more than 50%. Compared with the price of 3,577 yuan per night at Atour Hotel on Huashan South Road, Vientiane City, Shantou, it is 2,879 yuan cheaper during the Spring Festival.
Why is Xiaocheng so popular?
Compared with some traditional mainstream tourist destinations, some small-town cultural tourism is rising in recent years. In addition to Zibo and Tianshui in the past few years, New Year-specific cultural tourism in Chaoshan and Fujian is now very popular.
"We can see that places like Shantou, Jieyang, and Chaozhou have strong local characteristics and full of New Year flavor, so many tourists from big cities are willing to go there to experience unique folk activities. This has caused a large number of tourists to flock to small towns, causing local hotels to increase prices significantly during the Spring Festival." Wei Changren, founder of Jinlv.com, believes.
"There are indeed many local folk activities in our area. In addition to intangible cultural heritage songs and dances, there are also many activities related to solar terms, Chinese New Year, etc., and they are very atmospheric and ritualistic. These activities are unique to Chaoshan and cannot be seen in other places, which is very attractive. In addition, we in Chaoshan People have a strong sense of family, and they must return to their hometowns during the New Year. Some people who return to their hometowns choose to stay in hotels, which have larger spaces and treat them as micro vacations. These have caused the prices of our local hotels to soar. " Xiaolin is a native of Chaoshan, and she is very proud of her hometown culture.
China Business News reporter learned that these cultural and tourism activities with small town characteristics have been widely spread on social platforms in recent years. For example, videos of British singing and dancing once hit Douyin, and some British singing and dancing performance groups are frequently invited to perform, especially during the Spring Festival holiday. This Internet data traffic has also brought tourist "retention" to the small town cultural tourism.
Big data from Qunar Travel shows that during the Spring Festival, more travelers choose to go to small towns to explore folk customs and decode the unique New Year flavor. Shantou, Guangdong, a "small town with a taste of the New Year", has experienced significant growth. The Chaoshan area has folk activities such as intangible cultural heritage singing and dancing, where you can drink tea and eat beef. It is one of this year's "dark horse" destinations. So far, hotel bookings during the Spring Festival have increased by more than 70% year-on-year. Special folk activities such as border patrols in Quanzhou, Fujian Province have driven local hotel bookings to increase by 80%, with bookings ranking among the top 15 in the country. Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, where you can watch fish lanterns and climb high to pray for blessings, has grown by 1.5 times, maintaining the high popularity of the Spring Festival every year. So far, hotel reservations during the Spring Festival have covered more than a thousand counties. Small towns with unique natural scenery rank the highest in bookings. The top ten are Antu in Yanbian, Jilin, Yangshuo, Guangxi, Nanao, Guangxi, Pingtan, Fujian, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, Jianshui, Yunnan, Wuyuan, Jiangxi, Daxin, Chongzuo, Guangxi, Huidong, Guangdong, and Yi County, Huangshan, Anhui.
Tongcheng travel data shows that in the past two weeks, Weizhou Island in Beihai, Pingtan Island in Fuzhou, and Nan'ao Island in Shantou have been on the list of popular island destinations for college students to escape the cold, and the popularity of bookings for related travel products has more than doubled month-on-month.
Ctrip's "2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival Tourism Market Forecast" shows that the top ten domestic "dark horse" destinations are dominated by southern cities. Among them, Shantou leads the way with a year-on-year increase in bookings of 186%, followed by Jieyang (162%), Chaozhou (135%) followed closely by Sanya (112%), Jinghong (109%), Haikou (98%) and other traditional winter resorts also maintained high growth, and bookings in southern Fujian cities such as Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen also increased by 80% to 90%.
Tujia data shows that the three days with the highest number of B&B bookings during the Spring Festival are from the first to the third day of the Lunar New Year. During the Spring Festival this year, characteristic small towns with intangible cultural heritage experiences as their core "win". Many Tujia landlords introduced local intangible cultural heritage experiences into B&Bs. Bookings for B&Bs in Jieyang, Pu'er, Kaifeng and other places doubled year-on-year. Dali, Shantou, Chaozhou, Xishuangbanna and other cities with unique folk customs rank among the top 10 in the country in terms of homestay bookings.
Tuniu said that emerging and niche destinations are becoming more and more popular, with bookings in low-tier and county-level cities such as Anyang, Dehong, Altay, Wenchang, Southwest Guizhou, Shantou, Ningde, Yanbian, Pu'er, and Chaozhou seeing significant growth. More and more tourists are turning their attention to small towns and counties, pursuing the travel experience of fireworks and local flavor.
Of course, there is also a wave of "reverse" Spring Festival travel in first- and second-tier cities. For example, some travelers choose to bring their parents to big cities for a "reverse reunion." Big data from Qunar shows that during the Spring Festival, the number of air tickets booked by passengers over 60 years old increased by more than 35% year-on-year. Their favorite flight destinations are first-tier and new first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.
"On the other hand, most parents who come to first- and second-tier cities for the New Year will stay at their children's homes, and their demand for hotel accommodation is not very rigid. Of course, some people will stay in hotels, so some hotels in first-tier cities reduce prices during the Spring Festival to attract customers. This is why we see some high-end hotels in first-tier cities discount room prices during the Spring Festival. Whether it is to experience it in a small town. New Year activities and reverse reunions in first-tier cities are all travel that promotes tourist flow and increases consumption, which will increase revenue for the Spring Festival tourism market and help improve the overall cultural tourism market. However, small town cultural tourism industry operators must pay attention to the specific reception, whether they can handle the excessive passenger flow, and all aspects of accommodation, tourism experience and safety," Wei Changren analyzed. (China Business News)
