Zuzuche National Day Global Self-Driving Report: A 32% Increase in Outbound Travel Bookings
According to the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China, this year's National Day holiday is expected to see approximately 1.94 billion cross-regional trips, with a daily average of 277 million trips, marking a 0.7% increase compared to the same period last year. It is estimated that more than 80% of travelers, or 1.526 billion trips, will choose to travel by car.
On October 7, Zuzuche released the 2024 National Day Global Self-Driving Travel Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The report shows that during the National Day period, domestic self-driving travel orders increased by 8% YOY, while outbound self-driving orders surged by 32% YOY, with all 34 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, and special administrative regions seeing varying degrees of growth.
This year, travelers extended their holiday trips and ventured further. About 29.7% of users chose to travel during off-peak times by combining holidays. Most consumers opted for long-distance trips during the National Day holiday. The average domestic self-driving trip lasted 3.58 days, up 8.8% YOY, with a 33% increase in per capita spending. Meanwhile, outbound self-driving trips averaged 6.06 days, an 11% year-on-year increase.
In the last week of September, boosted by strong economic policies, travel demand surged, leading to a peak in pre-holiday bookings. According to Zuzuche’s data, orders placed within five days before the holiday increased by 15% compared to previous years. Domestically, popular tourist cities such as Chengdu, Guangzhou, Sanya, Hangzhou, and Haikou saw significant growth. For outbound travel, nearby and visa-free destinations such as Thailand, the UAE, Japan, Turkey, and Malaysia were the most popular.
Domestic Popular Self-Driving Destinations See Continued Growth, Reverse Self-Driving Trips on the Rise
Regarding domestic destinations, the most popular self-driving cities during the National Day holiday include Chengdu, Urumqi, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hulunbuir. Unlike previous years when travelers opted for "traffic avoidance" routes, this year has seen a marked increase in self-driving demand in popular tourist cities such as Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Lijiang, Kashgar, Wuhan, and Suzhou, with significant year-on-year growth.
This year, many self-driving travelers also chose to reverse self-driving routes, starting their journey in less popular cities and ending in major tourist destinations. This approach helps avoid traffic congestion and allows travelers to explore less-crowded spots while experiencing the local culture more deeply. Popular reverse deep self-driving destinations include Karamay, Turpan, Altay, Yantai, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Luoyang, Huzhou, Handan, and Lingshui.
Notably, the average travel duration during this year's National Day holiday is longer, with mid-to-long distance and deep self-driving trips becoming the preferred ways to travel. Among domestic destinations, the top ten cities with the longest travel durations are Chengdu, Urumqi, Hulunbuir, Lanzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Harbin, Guiyang, and Xining. Travelers to these cities stayed 0.6 days longer than the overall average.
Outbound Self-Driving Sees Growth Across 34 Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities; Beijing Sees Over 20% YOY Increase
Data from the National Day period shows that outbound self-driving trips from all 34 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and special administrative regions experienced YOY growth compared to 2023. Beijing recorded the highest volume increase, with a YOY growth of over 20%, while Xinjiang saw the largest percentage increase. Additionally, more than ten provinces and regions saw double-digit growth. Self-driving tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan increased by over 40% YOY, with Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou leading in outbound self-driving trip volumes.
Compared to 2019, outbound self-driving travelers continue to concentrate in major provinces and cities with high international direct flight recovery rates. Based on booking data, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong’s share of outbound self-driving travelers increased from 54% to 64%. At the same time, cities outside of the top-tier regions showed significantly higher travel enthusiasm, with cities like Tianjin, Xiamen, Shantou, Fuzhou, Xi'an, Ulanqab, Kunming, Zhuhai, Shijiazhuang, and Harbin leading the nation in outbound self-driving growth by percentage increase.
As for outbound destinations, the top National Day countries were the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Australia, Norway, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom. The most popular cities included Christchurch, Milan, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Queenstown, Keflavik, Sydney, Rome, Inverness, and Zurich.
Data shows that during the 2024 National Day holiday, the majority of the top 20 popular self-driving cities have not only recovered but exceeded 2019 levels, with some cities seeing more than eightfold growth. Notable cities include Sydney, Milan, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Queenstown, Inverness, and Keflavik.
Beyond the traditional popular destinations, several emerging hotspots saw exceptional growth during the National Day holiday. Reykjavik, Zagreb, Mallorca, Riyadh, Tbilisi, and the Faroe Islands particularly stood out, with average daily visitor increases of 92.96%, 175%, 111%, 236%, 173%, and 669%, respectively.
For extended self-driving trips, the top 10 countries were Serbia, Morocco, Hungary, Belgium, Iceland, Georgia, Germany, Egypt, New Zealand, and Poland, with average trip durations exceeding 7.8 days.
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The Economic Impact of Combining Holidays Becomes Apparent, with Post-90s and Post-00s Leading the Outbound Self-Driving Demographic
This year's National Day holiday coincided with the weekend, allowing for over ten days of extended leave through adjusted holidays, with some travelers able to secure a remarkable 13-day break. Thanks to this flexibility, the peak travel period for self-driving trips began earlier, starting on September 26, and will continue for 18 days, lasting until October 12. Flight data also indicates that September 31 to October 1 saw the highest ticket prices, allowing travelers to enjoy lower fares by avoiding peak travel times. Tourists who chose to travel during off-peak periods had an average trip duration of 2.3 days longer and managed to return just before the peak travel rush, thus avoiding congestion and reducing expenses to some extent.
From a user perspective, this year's travel demand during the National Day holiday is more actively driven by the post-80s demographic, which has increased by 11% YOY, with family vacations being the core need. Notably, the demand for domestic travel among self-driving tourists aged 55 and older has doubled, with a 36% increase in outbound travel. This “silver-haired” group, with more flexible schedules, is actively joining the travel trend during the National Day holiday.
Simultaneously, an increasing number of post-90s and post-00s are becoming accustomed to self-driving travel, expanding their journeys from domestic to international destinations. During the National Day holiday, nearly half of the outbound self-driving users were from the post-90s and post-00s demographics, marking a 10% increase compared to last year, indicating a deepening trend of younger travelers in outbound tourism.
Exploring Ecological Self-Driving Routes with Continuously Updated Activities
The popular self-driving routes for this National Day are divided into classic cultural and natural sightseeing categories, featuring a variety of activities such as visiting landmarks, museums, stargazing, glacier hiking, sea fishing, wildlife parks, and skydiving.
Travelers can explore unique architectural styles, charming fishing villages, stunning fjords, and lakes, as well as serene mountains and plains. Adventurous coastal drives seamlessly combine historical sites with natural landscapes, offering a panoramic self-driving experience. According to Zuzuche data, sales of related recreational products along these popular routes surged by 22.3% during the National Day holiday.
Here are the top 10 popular outbound self-driving routes for the National Day holiday:
To enhance convenience for consumers and make their journeys more efficient, Zuzuche has launched a comprehensive international one-way car rental service. Currently, 60% of rental locations on the Zuzuche platform support cross-border or one-way rentals. This allows consumers to avoid backtracking between destinations and visit more locations in a shorter amount of time. During the National Day holiday, over 29% of one-way rental orders were for international or cross-city rentals. The top 5 most popular one-way rental routes this year during the National Day holiday were:
As a global self-driving platform, Zuzuche analyzes data from searches, browsing, interactions, sharing, and bookings related to both domestic and international destinations during the "Golden Week" to interpret new trends in global self-driving travel among Chinese consumers. This analysis provides inspiration for destination marketing and innovation in travel product offerings.
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