Folklore tours spur consumption during Dragon Boat Festival: platforms

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By Zhang Weilan (Global Times) 08:54, June 03, 2025

During the Dragon Boat Festival from May 31 to June 2, China saw robust consumption growth in the culture and tourism market highlighted by a surge in domestic folklore tourism bookings to short-distance destinations, amusement parks and other cultural attractions, according to travel platforms on Monday.

From traditional dragon boat races and zongzi-making (sticky rice dumplings) workshops to immersive cultural experiences, these folklore events are empowering consumption scenarios with cultural elements.

Data from major travel agencies and travel platforms showcased clear economic ripple effects.

A report sent by Chinese online travel agency Qunar.com to the Global Times on Monday showed a spike of 2.5 times month-on-month in searches for "dragon boat," "Dragon Boat Festival" and "zongzi" as of Monday. The report showed significant 40 percent year-on-year growth for folk experience destinations.

Bookings for cities with dragon boat traditions also saw significant surges. In Foshan, South China's Guangdong Province, total travel orders rose 167 percent, while in Miluo, Central China's Hunan Province, considered by many to be the birthplace of dragon boat culture, bookings jumped 85 percent, according to domestic online travel agency Trip.com. Strong demand for short-distance travel during the festival led to bookings increasing 23 percent year-on-year, per Trip.com. The market has maintained robust and steady growth momentum.

Data from another travel agency Tongcheng Travel showed that in the first two days of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, search for keywords related to "Dragon Boat Festival" and "intangible cultural heritage" nearly doubled year-on-year.

Meanwhile, during the three-day holiday, the number of visits to travel tips related to domestic intangible cultural heritage markets increased by more than 300 percent year-on-year, per Tongcheng Travel. Wang Min, a 24-year-old tourist, told the Global Times on Monday that "My friends and I came to the market wearing traditional Chinese hanfuattire. From the moment we entered the site, we were immersed in strong Dragon Boat Festival vibes. It really felt like we had traveled back to an ancient celebration of the festival."

Folklore experiences are emerging as a new driving force for cultural tourism consumption. The combination of intangible cultural heritage with folk customs, as well as local cultural activities with folk traditions, is helping to bring more "non-mainstream" destinations into the public eye and attract an increasing number of visitors, according to Qunar.com.

On Qunar's platform, cities such as Yueyang, Wuxi and Foshan stood out as favored destinations. These cities are renowned for their rich cultural and tourism landscapes, as well as their captivating folklore experiences. Hotel bookings in these locations saw a significant surge, increasing by more than 40 percent year-on-year, per the report.

Amid a continued rise in ticket sales and hotel bookings during the Dragon Boat Festival, these emerging travel trends greatly enriched people's travel experience. Meanwhile, the Dragon Boat Festival typically represents the start of the summer travel period in China. A travel boom during the holiday will contribute to a further increase in services consumption across the country, Jiang Yiyi, a tourism and sports expert at Beijing Sport University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Jiang noted that domestic consumption became a new highlight of this year's tourism sector, driven by a growing interest in cultural experiences, short-haul travel, and the desire to explore local traditions.

During the three-day holidays, family hotel packages that included hotels, food and entertainment were up 20 percent year-on-year, Chinese travel platform Fliggy told the Global Times on Monday, while the booking volume for customized tours grew by more than 50 percent year-on-year, the platform said.

Experts attributed the boom to the heightened spending vigor spurred by the economic revival and government push for high-quality services consumption, highlighting the shift toward a more sophisticated consumption structure and diverse consumer needs, driven by overall industry upgrades.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday travel demand was more diverse and complex, with new forms like study tours, family trips, and museum visits quickly gaining popularity. "This trend highlighted the innovative vitality in China's tourism sector and its broader economic impact," Tian Yun, a veteran economist, told the Global Times on Monday.

"China's travel boom shows no signs of slowing down, with the Dragon Boat Festival expected to give an extra push to domestic consumption," Tian said. As the summer travel season gains momentum, Tian also expects that the holiday economy will play an important role in driving the nation's economic growth.

This presents an opportunity for local governments and businesses to invest in tourism infrastructure and develop unique cultural experiences that appeal to travelers from both China and abroad, Tian said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)