Hunan Receives Nearly 40 Million Tourist Trips During National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday

Boosted by a combination of favorable factors such as a longer-than-usual holiday, pleasant weather, and people-friendly policies, Hunan's cultural and tourism market demonstrated a vibrant and high-quality growth trend during this year's National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, achieving a harmonious balance of high popularity, strong vitality, and excellent order.

Overall Situation

According to telecommunication data, from October 1 to 8, the province received a total of 39.9294 million tourist visits, a year-on-year increase of 19.35%. Among them, non-local tourists accounted for 10.3712 million visits, making up 25.97%. Based on a sample survey on tourist spending during the holiday, the province's total tourist expenditure reached 50.206 billion yuan, up 25.96% year-on-year, with non-local tourist spending amounting to 19.251 billion yuan, an increase of 21.43%.

Based on big data modeling analysis from visitor flow monitoring cameras, the top three open scenic areas in the province during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday by cumulative visitors were the Shaoshan Tourist Area (546,300 visits), the Fenghuang Ancient Town Tourist Area (489,600 visits), and the Biancheng Chadong Scenic Area (262,700 visits). For enclosed scenic areas, the top three were the Yuelu Mountain-Orange Isle Tourist Area (1.2891 million visits), the Nanyue Hengshan Tourist Area (680,700 visits), and the Wulingyuan-Tianmen Mountain Tourist Area (643,400 visits).

Five Key Features

First, a thriving consumer market with robust growth momentum. The 2025 Hunan Cultural and Tourism Autumn Consumption Season was fully launched, with over a thousand cultural and tourism events held throughout the holiday. Per capita spending reached 1,257.9 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. Changsha ranked among the top ten must-visit domestic destinations on OTA platforms, with the city's peak instantaneous visitor flow reaching 1.911 million visits. Nighttime consumption hubs such as the Wuyi Commercial District saw significant revenue growth. The Xuefeng Mountain Cableway, known as the "world's longest alpine cableway," received over 100,000 visits, with tickets selling out multiple days in advance, driving a more than 50% increase in visitors to surrounding scenic areas.

Second, dynamic emerging business formats and impressive integrated scenarios. The "Hunan Football League" attracted over 100,000 spectators. All basic exhibition tickets for the Hunan Museum were fully booked on the first day of the holiday. Yueyang's immersive nighttime tourism project, "Ascending Yueyang Tower," saw sold-out performances daily, with an average revenue of 455,000 yuan per day, far exceeding the industry average. The Liuyang Sky Theater's National Day fireworks show drew nearly 500,000 visits. Integrated business formats that combine sports, performing arts, and technology have become new drivers of high-quality cultural and tourism development.

Third, significant spillover effects from the tourism development conference, with strong regional growth. Huaihua's monitored tourist areas saw total visitor numbers and operating revenue rise by 143% and 94.8% year-on-year, respectively, the fastest growth in the province. Yueyang's total visitor numbers and total tourist spending both ranked third in the province. The host cities of the previous three Hunan Tourism Development Conferences—Zhangjiajie, Chenzhou, and Hengyang—also ranked among the province's top performers in key tourism indicators, demonstrating steady growth momentum.

Fourth, expanding brand influence and a strong mainstream media presence. Central and provincial media closely covered Hunan's cultural and tourism sector, carrying out intensive promotion. CCTV programs such as "Morning News" reported on Hunan's cultural and tourism developments for eight consecutive days, while "Xinwen Lianbo" twice covered the festive scenes at Shibadong Village in Xiangxi and Yushuwan in Huaihua. Provincial media outlets such as Hunan Daily, hunantoday, and Rednet also launched holiday special columns, offering in-depth analysis of cultural and tourism highlights, forming a promotional landscape  characterized by sustained attention from central media and full coverage by provincial media. During the holiday, Hunan's cultural and tourism-related online topics and content reached over 2 billion impressions.

Fifth, enhanced service quality and optimized visitor experiences. By implementing comprehensive measures to address persistent issues in the cultural and tourism sector, strengthening crowd control at high-traffic scenic areas, promoting free parking at state-owned parking lots, and adopting flexible law enforcement measures such as waiving penalties for minor violations and first-time offenses for non-local vehicles, visitor experiences and satisfaction were effectively improved. Online reputation monitoring data for scenic areas showed a 90% positive review rate among visitors to Hunan during the holiday. No major tourism complaints or significant safety incidents occurred across the province.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn