Study tours go viral, homestays gain popularity, and Qingming "collides" with spring break to activate new consumer growth in Guangdong.

Ask AI · How does the Spring Break policy catalyze new vitality in Guangdong’s tourism consumption?

Southern Finance Reporter Wei Tong, Guangzhou Report

In early April, with grass growing and orioles flying, the Qingming holiday “coincided” with spring break for primary and secondary schools in many regions, bringing an early surge of consumer activity to the spring tourism market.

The 2026 government work report explicitly proposed supporting qualified localities to promote primary and secondary school spring and autumn breaks. In Guangdong, cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Foshan have already launched pilot programs for spring break.

Spring break overlaps with Qingming, and a 6-day holiday activates the spring travel market. Southern Finance reporters learned that during this year’s Qingming holiday, family trips remained the market’s main focus, with a rise in spring study tours, and short-distance “micro-vacations” around the area still being the main way to enjoy the holiday, with homestay experiences highly favored.

Ctrip data shows that orders for entertainment, hotels, and tickets saw the most significant growth, increasing by 134%, 62%, and 61% year-on-year; homestays, car rentals, and large vacation packages also maintained high growth rates, with increases of 38%, 31%, and 27%; flight bookings grew by 15% year-on-year.

As the holiday approached, Guangdong continued to strengthen quality supply and fully amplified the spring consumption effect. On one hand, inbound tourism products continued to deepen, with the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism launching a second batch of boutique inbound tourism routes. On the other hand, the entire province synchronized efforts to activate ecological cultural tourism resources, enrich outdoor excursion scenarios, and boost the holiday economy from multiple dimensions.

During the Qingming holiday, orders for family trips nationwide accounted for 37% of total tourism orders, becoming the main force of holiday travel. Data from LY.com shows that among Guangdong users booking group tours from April 1-6, family travelers accounted for 23%, an increase of 9 percentage points year-on-year.

The market also experienced a spring study tour boom. As one of Guangzhou’s spring and autumn break pilot programs, Guangzhou No. 86 Middle School’s over 300 second-year high school students used their spring break and Qingming holiday to travel to Zhuhai for a two-day study tour, bringing classes to marine parks, century-old universities, and tech innovation factories. Data from Guangzhou Travel shows that the spring study tour market in Guangdong saw explosive growth in 2026, with order volume increasing by over 100% compared to 2025; the continued promotion of spring and autumn break policies has pushed the integration of “education + tourism” to a new level.

Booking activity for city-area homestays remains high. Tujia data shows that bookings for standalone villas increased by nearly 20% year-on-year. Residents of major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are the main consumers of homestays.

Young travelers value the atmosphere and participation aspect of accommodations more. During Qingming, activities like travel photography, check-ins, and intangible cultural heritage experiences continued to heat up. Tujia data shows that during the Qingming holiday, over 41% of homestay bookings were made by “post-00s” (born after 2000), who prefer stylish, photogenic homestays that offer unique experiences.

Top-tier homestay operators have already felt the market heat. “This year’s Qingming bookings have been very hot; inquiries started as early as mid-March. On the first day of Qingming, all rooms were booked about two weeks in advance; the next day, bookings were also filled about a week ahead,” said Mo Xiaoyan, founder of Gu Li Yuan Boutique Homestay in Conghua, Guangzhou. She added that compared to previous years, the overall booking cycle has extended, with bookings starting from April 2 and reaching a peak. The occupancy rate in recent days has reached 80%, with total bookings up at least 60% compared to last year.

For Qingming, Gu Li Yuan prepared several seasonal activities. She explained that from 3 pm on the day of check-in to 10 am the next day, the schedule was fully booked, including intangible cultural heritage crafts and nature-based agricultural education.

Mo Xiaoyan said that Qingming coincides with the growth period of mugwort, so Gu Li Yuan launched a mugwort green rice ball-making activity, integrating natural education. Children could touch mugwort, mint, lemongrass, and chrysanthemum leaves, learning about their growth environment, functions, and identification methods in a fun way. “These activities have received very positive feedback; about 90% of parents come mainly for our experiential activities.”

Huizhou Nan Kunshan Huaxi Rain Homestays, with multiple locations, are also seeing hot bookings. Tanyunhua, the homestay owner, said that out of five locations, one is nearly fully booked, and the remaining four have about 60% reservations. The pristine natural environment, along with outdoor activities like bamboo shoot picking, wild vegetable foraging, and fishing, are especially popular.

Hu Yang, senior vice president of Tujia Homestays, believes that a clear feature of spring homestay consumption is that travelers care more about the natural integration of “staying” and “playing.” Whether it’s family trips, flower viewing, or intangible cultural heritage experiences, people choose homestays not only for lodging but also for the overall experience created by the surrounding environment and local culture.

To continuously enrich high-quality cultural tourism scenarios, Guangdong Province’s Department of Culture and Tourism recently launched the second batch of boutique inbound tourism routes. Along with the first five routes launched and updated earlier, Guangdong’s top ten inbound tourism boutique routes are now fully presented, offering customized cultural and travel experiences for global tourists and creating a one-stop Lingnan travel plan, supporting the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a world-class tourism destination.

According to reports, since their launch in October 2025, the first batch of Guangdong’s boutique inbound routes, leveraging the global reach of international online travel platforms, have continuously promoted local tourism resources in key cities, with noticeable market effects.

Ctrip data shows that as of February 28, 2026, the inbound tourism market in nine cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Qingyuan, Shaoguan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Shantou, and Chaozhou has burst into activity, with inbound visitor numbers and spending both increasing. Among them, Guangzhou saw a 31% increase in inbound visitors and a 44% increase in spending year-on-year; Shenzhen and Qingyuan led the market with 18% and 16% growth in visitors, and 33% and 39% growth in spending, respectively. Cities like Shantou, Shaoguan, and Chaozhou also maintained steady growth.

The Guangdong Forestry Bureau and the Department of Culture and Tourism recently jointly announced the first batch of provincial forest tourism特色 routes and emerging brand locations, covering forest parks, wetlands, scenic spots, state-owned forest farms, and forest wellness bases, matching the demand for Qingming short trips and outdoor excursions, further broadening spring cultural tourism scenarios.

Yang Han, researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, said that the spring holiday combined with Qingming’s extended break has significantly boosted traditional short holidays, effectively stimulating domestic demand. Additionally, the staggered scheduling of spring holidays helps smooth out peak travel times, offering travelers higher cost-effectiveness and a more comfortable travel experience.

“Cities actively promoting spring holidays can not only attract a large number of visitors outward but also attract more local or out-of-town tourists through special policies, which in turn benefits the local cultural tourism market, making spring holiday a new growth pole after the Spring Festival and before May Day,” Yang Han said.