A total of 88.16 million trips were made in China during the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in 2021, according to the country's culture and tourism authorities.

The first national holiday of the second half of 2021, the festival saw an increase in travel demand.

Compared with 2019, hotel order volume increased by over 20 percent. Meanwhile, ticket booking volume increased by nearly 30 percent, with car rental orders up by 77 percent, according to data released by Chinese travel platforms such as Trip, Qunar, Lvmama, TreavelGo and Mafengwo.

The most popular tourist destinations are mostly concentrated in southern and eastern China. The number of short-distance travel product bookings has also increased by 46 percent compared with 2019.

Due to time constraints, short-distance travel has become everyone's first choice. Compared with 2019, local entertainment product orders on Mafengwo have increased by more than 50 percent compared with 2019.

Big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou are among the top destination. The grand opening of Universal Studios Beijing has undoubtedly become a major tourist draw during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.

Beijing Universal Studios officially opened on September 20, boosting accommodations bookings in the surrounding areas of Beijing.

Driven by Universal Studios Beijing bookings, Beijing also appears to be the most popular destination for the National Day holiday coming in nine days, according to TravelGo. The Universal Beijing Resort has also become one of the top five popular hotels in the Beijing area.

Besides theme parks like Universal Studios, the lower-priced airplane tickets are another element that boosts people's passion for traveling around.

The average flight ticket price and the average hotel night price on TravelGo were lower than the May Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays in the first half of the year, and the number of airport pick-up orders during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday increased by more than 500 percent compared with the same period in 2019.

"Moon-gazing flights," flights that depart between 7 p.m. and midnight between September 19-21, have become a new choice for travelers, especially those on the east-west flight route where visitors can admire the moon up close through the porthole on the plane.

TravelGo and Qunar have released over 7,000 "moon-watching flights" for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the minimum cost is only about 200 yuan (about $31).

(Top image designer: Li Wenyi.)