The official holiday dates for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day have been released. According to the "Notice of the General Office of the State Council on the Arrangement of Some Holidays in 2026," the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday this year will be from September 25th (Friday) to 27th (Sunday), a total of 3 days. The National Day holiday will be from October 1st (Thursday) to 7th (Wednesday), a total of 7 days. September 20th (Sunday) and October 10th (Saturday) will be working days.

The notice encourages organizations and individuals to combine paid annual leave with other policies to create longer holidays and promote staggered travel. During holidays, all regions and departments must properly arrange duty shifts, security, and epidemic prevention and control work. In the event of major emergencies, they must report and handle them promptly and appropriately in accordance with regulations to ensure that the people enjoy a peaceful and safe holiday.

Industry insiders say that because the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and the National Day Golden Week are only three working days apart, many tourists will use the "take 3 days off, get 13 days off" method to create a super long 13-day holiday. Data shows that as of August 10, the booking popularity of popular domestic cities has increased by 30% year-on-year, and the popularity of popular outbound cities has increased by more than 50%.

Based on flight bookings, the top 10 most popular flight destinations are: Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Urumqi, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Harbin, Haikou, and Lanzhou. Guangzhou and Shenzhen both made the top ten.

It is worth noting that the top 10 most popular outbound travel cities include Bangkok, Thailand; Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong, China; Bali, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Istanbul, Turkey; Phuket, Thailand; and Melbourne, Australia.

(Source: China.com, Author: Wu Ce, January)