China’s Dragon Boat Festival coincides with second holiday, fuelling boom in family tourism

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By Ralph Jennings

Published June 2, 2025

An unusual convergence of the Dragon Boat Festival and Children’s Day in China over the weekend led to a surge in domestic tourism bookings to campsites, amusement parks and other attractions, according to travel platforms.

Short-haul domestic travel bookings had grown 23 per cent year on year, according to travel platform Trip.com’s latest figures. The trend was driven by “summer escapes” with parent-child orders making up 35 per cent of overall bookings and “family-friendly” hotel searches increasing by 45 per cent, a company spokeswoman said.

Latest figures from Alibaba Group Holding’s travel-booking platform Fliggy showed that, as of last Wednesday, bookings for theme park tickets had grown by more than 100 per cent over last year’s Dragon Boat Festival weekend, while campsite bookings had shot up 80 per cent. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Family hotel packages that include hotels, food and entertainment had risen by 24 per cent over the same period for 2024, the platform said, while activities such as suburban “water fun” and picnics with children and pets “are in high demand”.

“This year’s holiday coincides with Children’s Day, enhancing the appeal of family travel,” Fliggy said in a statement ahead of the May 31-June 2 break.

Domestic holiday travel in China has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, with growing interest in scenery, cultural experiences and adventures – albeit with an eye towards saving money amid economic uncertainties.

Chinese officials have looked to tourism as a driver of support for the nation’s service sector.

This year marked the first convergence of Children’s Day and the Dragon Boat Festival since 2014. China observes Children’s Day on June 1, but the lunar cycle causes the Dragon Boat Festival to fall on a slightly different calendar date each year.

The marketing and tech firm China Trading Desk also reported that, as of last Wednesday, ticket sales for major theme parks had more than doubled year-on-year.

Data collected from online travel agencies showed that the most popular mainland China-based theme parks were Universal Beijing Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, according to Subramania Bhatt, chief executive of China Trading Desk.

“Child and family-friendly attractions are experiencing a surge in popularity, and the overlap of the Dragon Boat Festival and Children’s Day creates an ideal long weekend for short-haul getaways.”

While he said this year’s exact overlap was rare, “past holiday convergences have consistently driven spikes in family travel”, especially to local and short-distance destinations.

Tourists were especially keen on “blended consumption experiences” that come with lodging, “curated dining” and family photography, reflecting “a focus on quality family time”.

Shanghai had already seen an inflow of tourists last Thursday, said Charles Chang, a professor of finance at Fudan University, a campus in the giant eastern seaboard city.

The focus on children this year had pushed families beyond just “going to malls and getting an ice cream”, he said.