Influenced by the "Double 11" e-commerce shopping carnival, December’s promotions shifted focus to online travel. Major well-known online and offline travel companies joined the "Double 12" sales battle. Starting with Ctrip, other travel e-commerce platforms such as eLong, Qunar, Tongcheng, Mango, and Tuniu all entered the fray, while traditional offline travel agencies like CYTS also announced their participation in the "Double 12" Travel Shopping Festival.
As the "Double 12" promotions concluded, many e-commerce platforms achieved impressive sales figures. Similar to other e-commerce giants like Taobao, travel e-commerce platform Ctrip also attained remarkable results during this "Double 12" battle: on the day of the event, website and mobile traffic exceeded 100 million visits, with peak concurrent online shoppers surpassing one million. Group-buying product orders doubled compared to regular days, making the travel e-commerce sector’s ambition to establish "Double 12" as a travel shopping festival a reality.
Tang Lan, Senior Vice President of Ctrip, stated that Ctrip aimed to create the concept of "Shopping for Double 11, Traveling for Double 12" together with other industry players, which was largely achieved. "On the surface, this promotion is a price war, but in reality, it involves much more behind the scenes—such as improvements to the client app, service upgrades, and technological enhancements. So beyond the price competition, there’s also a battle of technology, service, and branding."
Currently, Ctrip’s "Double 12" travel vacation promotion, themed "Year-End Red Packets, Crazy Deals for Travel," has gone live: covering over 10,000 products in more than 60 cities at discounts as low as 0.5%, for a duration of one month, claiming to create the "largest, most comprehensive, and best travel carnival."
According to Ctrip officials, the 60+ participating cities include all departure cities for Ctrip travel products; the routes cover over 100 countries, approximately 1,000 destination cities, and around 10,000 scenic spots. With 10 special promotion events plus hotels, flights, train tickets, and more, nearly all of Ctrip’s products are included in the promotion, covering almost every traveler’s need.
Starting December 12, Qunar also announced the launch of its year-end’s biggest "Spend Chinese New Year with Qunar" campaign, covering various travel products such as flights, hotels, vacation packages, and visas, targeting the Spring Festival travel market.
It is understood that Qunar’s "1-yuan flash sale" products will be available for over 30 days. During the event, a free travel product gift pack worth 5,000 yuan will be given away weekly, with destinations including popular domestic spots like Sanya and Lijiang, as well as international favorites such as Thailand, Maldives, Bali, Sabah, and Boracay—dropping a major bomb in the fiercely competitive year-end travel market.
Major travel e-commerce platforms pulled out all the stops in the "Double 12" price war, with price competition and "festival marketing" showing no signs of stopping. Beyond going all out on December 12, both Qunar and Ctrip set their campaign durations to over a month, lasting until just before the Spring Festival—the "Double 12" battle was just the beginning.
Highlights of the Double 12 Promotions
The travel industry’s investment in this "Double 12" significantly surpassed that of "Double 11." This round of promotions drove travel discounts to historic lows, featuring campaigns like "limited-time flash sales starting at 12 yuan," "hot springs and skiing at 50% off," and "grab 1-yuan beds." Ctrip alone invested 500 million yuan in a one-month "Double 12" marketing campaign, setting new records in scale and intensity for the travel industry.
Previously, some e-commerce promotions would fabricate an artificially high "original price" and then offer discounts under various pretexts. Consumers thought they were getting a good deal, but were actually misled. The "Double 12" travel promotions, however, offered real discounts directly subtracted from actual prices—not superficial so-called "market prices" or clearance rates—with the discount amounts clearly stated at the time of booking.
This "Double 12" promotion broke through the limitations of limited product variety and narrow choices. The promotions across major websites included a full range of global offerings: domestic travel, outbound travel, independent travel, cruises, nearby trips, study tours, attraction tickets, car rentals, visas, hotels, flights, train tickets, and more—covering nearly all traveler needs. This showcases the industrial chain and framework of a "one-stop travel service platform" and the structure of a "big tourism" and "big leisure" industry. This is also something general e-commerce shopping sites struggle to match.
Unlike "Double 11," where platform-based e-commerce like Taobao dominated, the "Double 12" promotions were mainly led by B2C platforms, mostly direct sales by travel companies. Many travel businesses invested less during "Double 11," but for the "Double 12" they helped build and promoted via their own official websites, they significantly increased discounts and product offerings, showing far greater emphasis than during "Double 11." For example, CYTS Aoyou’s "Double 12" promotion will last half a month.
After "Double 11," comes another "Double 12." Faced with another wave of e-commerce promotions, some analysts previously questioned whether netizens would still bite. However, a Ctrip spokesperson commented: "'Double 11' promotions have already preemptively drained some spending on physical goods, making it difficult to reignite consumer enthusiasm in the near term. However, promotions for travel products are well-timed. Unlike daily necessities, travel products emphasize planning. Booking in advance allows travelers to enjoy discounts while securing limited resources. Travel companies hope to cultivate the habit of early booking through early-booking incentives. The year-end coincides with a 'vacation wave' and two major holidays—New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival—making it an excellent time for travel product promotions. Looking at the promotional products from Ctrip and others, many involve the Spring Festival period, even extending to March and April next year. This is positively impactful for boosting public travel willingness, reducing corporate inventory in advance, fostering travel consumption habits, and invigorating the travel market."
"Lung-Cleansing Travel" Becomes a New Trend
Since winter began, many regions in China have experienced widespread smog. Amid marketing battles, traveling to places with fresh air for "lung-cleansing travel" has become a new trend in the tourism market. Travel businesses seized the opportunity to launch "lung-cleansing" products to attract tourists. Among them, online travel platforms acted especially swiftly. On Ctrip, a newly launched "5-Day Group Tour to Sanya – Enjoy Nature’s Oxygen Bar, Hidden in the Wuzhishan Mountains" features the green forest oxygen bar of Wuzhishan Tropical Rainforest, offering visitors the chance to breathe air rich in negative ions. Prices starting from Beijing are 3,300 yuan. A Ctrip spokesperson noted that the product was warmly received upon launch, with over 50% of New Year’s Day bookings already made.
Enjoying sunshine and beaches, soaking in forest parks, and breathing fresh air—trips to Hainan for a "lung cleanse" have become a craze. Based on booking popularity for Ctrip’s independent and group travel, Sanya has overwhelmingly become the hottest recent destination, with tourist numbers in the first week of December up over 30% month-on-month. Hainan travel products are selling well, especially those for 4 to 6 days, with attractive pricing also a driving factor—for example, a 5-day independent Sanya trip from Beijing starts at just over 2,000 yuan, more than 50% cheaper than the Spring Festival golden week. Ranking second and third, Xiamen and Lijiang have also seen a significant surge in sales recently, with travelers mostly opting for 4 to 5-day packages, primarily independent travel. A 4-day independent Xiamen trip from Beijing starts at around 1,300 yuan.
If "lung-cleansing travel" doesn’t feel immersive enough, there’s what industry insiders jokingly call "lung-swapping travel"—outbound travel. With the Spring Festival holiday drawing near, outbound travel has also hit a booking peak, especially for island destinations known for fresh air and warm climates. Based on booking trends, the five most popular outbound "lung-swapping" island destinations are: Phuket, Bali, Mauritius, Jeju Island, and the Maldives. The top five city destinations are: Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.