Before the start of this year’s “May Day” holiday, flight ticket prices in China plummeted, and hotel prices saw significant discounts. Flights departing on May 2nd and 3rd experienced a price drop of over 60%, with tickets to Lijiang even falling below 20% of the original price, while accommodations were priced as low as less than 100 Chinese yuan.
According to an interview record published by Global Travel News on April 30, Zhang Yu, who embarked on a trip to Quanzhou with He Teng Travel, witnessed a continuous drop in both flight and hotel prices throughout the journey. The one-way ticket price dropped by 300 yuan from the initial booking, resulting in a total loss of 1,000 yuan for a family of three on the outbound journey and 600 yuan on the return journey. The hotel price he booked also continued to decline. This is not an isolated case – from April 25 to April 29, flight prices on the Shanghai to Japan route were halved in a single day, and popular routes such as Guangzhou to Kunming and Beijing to Wuhan also experienced last-minute price drops.
First-line OTA practitioners provided feedback, stating that “2026 May Day is the most challenging year.” OTA stands for Online Travel Agency, which refers to online platforms for booking services such as hotels, tours, and tickets.
According to a report by 21st Century Economic News on April 30, this year’s May Day holiday travel market witnessed unexpected changes. Just a few days ago, netizens were lamenting the surge in flight tickets and the substantial increase in travel costs for the May Day holiday. However, as the holiday approached, flight and hotel prices unexpectedly plummeted.
The reporter from the media discovered through various OTAs that flight prices for the May Day holiday in multiple locations experienced a sharp decline, with a reduction of over 60% for flights departing on May 2nd and 3rd. For instance, flights from Beijing to Lijiang, Nanning, and Haikou on May 3rd were priced at only 350 yuan, 360 yuan, and 320 yuan, respectively, with reductions exceeding 60%. Particularly in Lijiang, the price dropped by 63%. During the May Day holiday, the prices of hotels and homestays in Lijiang were astonishingly low, with numerous homestays priced below 200 yuan and some hostels as low as 28 yuan.
On the first day of the holiday, there were numerous discounted tickets to popular travel destinations such as Chengdu, Chongqing, and Changsha from Beijing, while destinations like Haikou, Sanya, and Kunming offered tickets at half the price or even lower.
The report mentioned that in previous years, the popular travel destination Lijiang saw a significant drop in flight ticket prices. Tickets on April 30 and May 1 were at 43% of the original price, but plummeted to 16% or 17% on May 2, with flights from Beijing and Shanghai costing less than 600 yuan. On May 3, prices dropped to 350 yuan, marking a 63% decrease.
According to a report by BT Financial on May 1, domestic consumers collectively experienced the anomaly of “early purchase is more expensive” during the peak season for the first time, which had never happened before the “May Day” holiday of 2025. In 2025, the industry was still explaining to consumers why it was more cost-effective to buy holiday tickets early. By the May Day holiday of 2026, this industry rule had been reversed.