With the opening of primary and secondary schools across the country, the 2025 summer tourism season will end. On August 26, Ctrip released the "2025 Summer Travel Market Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), showing that Gansu relied on the unique advantages of "Silk Road culture + cool ecology", with a year-on-year increase of 18% in summer hotel orders, and Lanzhou, the provincial capital, became the core of regional cultural tourism with "Yellow River style experience + Silk Road hub status", and its Yellow River-themed scenic spots and Silk Road cultural venues continued to be popular. On the same day, Fliggy's "2025 Summer Travel Express" showed that this year's summer tourism demand in Gansu was strong, with continuous growth in tourism orders for air tickets, hotels, car rentals, and overseas local entertainment, and the increase in students and family customers, further stimulating the vitality of cultural tourism consumption.
Lanzhou hotel orders grew steadily
Gambocheng is the most popular attraction
The report pointed out that domestic tourism consumption will become more rational in the summer of 2025, and "characteristic experience + cost-effective" will become the core demand of tourists. As a cultural tourism hub in Gansu, Lanzhou fits this trend with the differentiated experience of "Yellow River style + Silk Road culture". The number of hotel orders in Lanzhou in the summer increased by 12% year-on-year, and the performance of guest source absorption and experience innovation was outstanding.
Lanzhou's popular summer scenic spots and cultural tourism experience projects are Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou Ink Danxia, Lanzhou Yellow River Cruise, Lanzhou Polar Ocean World, Lanzhou Wildlife Park, Lanzhou Ocean Park, Yellow River Tower, Xinglong Mountain Nature Reserve, Western Dinosaur Water Park, and Lanzhou Yellow River Sheepskin Raft.
According to the report, from the perspective of visitor flow, Lanzhou's main source of tourists is concentrated in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and surrounding provincial capitals, with Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu and Guangzhou ranking among the top five, of which tourists from Xi'an, Chengdu and other surrounding cities account for more than 40%; The popular summer travel destinations for Lanzhou residents are mainly Xi'an, Chengdu, Xining, Beijing and Shanghai, forming a two-way tourism pattern of "intra-provincial radiation and cross-provincial linkage", which is in line with the trend of "nearly half of domestic tourists choose long-distance travel".
At the same time, as the only provincial capital city where the Yellow River passes through the city, Lanzhou's "Yellow River characteristics" are the core label that attracts tourists. "Coolness has become the first keyword of summer tourism", the average summer temperature in Lanzhou remains at 22-28 °C, becoming a popular choice for summer escape in the northwest, and special projects such as Yellow River cruises and sheepskin rafts have deeply integrated "water heat" and "cultural experience", forming Lanzhou's unique cultural tourism competitiveness.
The whole province is working together
Gansu cultural tourism products are innovated and upgraded
Lanzhou's cultural tourism popularity does not exist in isolation, but is the epitome of the coordinated development of the cultural tourism market in Gansu Province. In the summer, the number of hotel orders in Gansu Province increased by 18% year-on-year, reflecting the province's "multi-point flowering" cultural tourism pattern. This is closely related to the trend of "long-distance travel accounts for nearly half" - a large number of cross-regional tourists start from Lanzhou and go to Dunhuang, Zhangye, Tianshui and other places to string together the "Silk Road Cultural Tourism Belt".
From the perspective of the source structure, the main source of tourists in Gansu Province is the same as Lanzhou, with tourists from Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing accounting for more than 70%, in addition to experiencing the style of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, these tourists also go deep into the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang to feel the thousand-year-old murals, go to Zhangye Colorful Danxia to watch the geological wonders, forming a classic itinerary of "Lanzhou transit + multi-place check-in". The "chartered car tour + summer vacation" model is also popular in Gansu, and the number of chartered car orders around popular scenic spots has increased significantly year-on-year, further promoting the growth of cultural tourism consumption in the whole region.
Popular scenic spots in Gansu in summer are Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring, Mogao Grottoes, Zhangye Colorful Danxia, Jiayuguan Guancheng, Zhagana, See Dunhuang, Ink Danxia Scenic Area, Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon, Gansu Provincial Museum, and Maijishan Grottoes.
In terms of cultural experience, the "Digital Cave" of Mogao Grottoes and the "Cultural Relics Interactive Exhibition" of the Gansu Provincial Museum allow tourists to immerse themselves in the Silk Road civilization; in the field of summer retreat and outdoors, scenic spots such as Xinglong Mountain and Zagana have launched "hiking + camping" packages; in terms of parent-child travel, Lanzhou Polar Ocean World and Western Dinosaur Water Park have launched "parent-child packages" and "popular science classes".
From the perspective of summer performance, Lanzhou has stabilized the C position of regional cultural tourism with "Yellow River characteristics", while Gansu has become a popular destination for long-distance tourism in the country with its "Silk Road Cultural IP". In the future, with the continuous innovation of cultural tourism products and the optimization of transportation facilities, Gansu and Lanzhou are expected to further enhance the competitiveness of cultural tourism and attract more tourists.
Lanzhou chartered car orders increased by 222%
The number of outbound travel bookings in Gansu increased by more than 40% year-on-year
Fliggy data shows that this summer, the number of outbound travel bookings in Gansu increased by 41.8% year-on-year. Gansu customized tours, airport pick-up/station, and air ticket orders all increased by double digits. In addition, the number of ticket orders in Longnan increased by 6 times year-on-year, and the number of chartered car tours in Wuwei and Lanzhou increased by 222% and 91% year-on-year respectively.
This summer, trends such as "traveling with concerts" and "traveling with exhibitions" are strong, and theme parks are still the favorite of parent-child families this holiday. According to Fliggy data, Shanghai Disney Resort, Universal Beijing Resort, Jiayuguan Fangte, Shanghai Legoland Resort, as well as Chimelong Tourist Resort, Haichang Ocean Park and other brand parks are very popular with consumers. At the same time, national style travel photography, night garden tours, fireworks shows, etc. are popular scenic spots this summer.
This summer, the student customer base is very active. Fliggy data shows that the proportion of student trips in Lanzhou in the summer continues to increase, but the popularity of college students' "special forces" tourism has declined, and the average order price has increased by 15.1% year-on-year. This means that higher quality and more in-depth travel is becoming more and more popular among university students.
In terms of outbound travel, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Vietnam, France, Indonesia and Hong Kong are the preferred destinations for Lanzhou tourists.
As students return to school, as the summer is coming to an end, the air ticket prices of Lanzhou to Xishuangbanna, Sanya, Aksu, Chongqing to Lanzhou, Kunming, Guilin, and Guangzhou to Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanning and other popular tourist cities have dropped by more than 50%, and hotel prices have also fallen sharply, which is suitable for "picking up leaks" at the end of the summer. (Lanzhou Daily all-media reporter Tan Anli Zhou Jingbo text/photo)