Students arrive at a primary school in Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 1, 2025. The new semester for primary and secondary schools kicked off in many parts of China on Monday. (Xinhua/Tao Liang)

 
Many regions in China are piloting spring and autumn breaks for primary and secondary schools starting this fall. The three-day Break, combined with a weekend, will give students a five-day holiday.

According to notices released by various regions, the 2025 spring and autumn breaks in Ningbo, Huzhou and Jiaxing in East China's Zhejiang Province, and Foshan in South China's Guangdong Province, are all scheduled from November 12 to 14. These dates connect with the weekend of November 15 and 16, forming a five-day holiday.

With the autumn break dates being announced one after another, local travel agencies are preparing related travel products.

On Wednesday, GZL International Travel Service announced the launch of its "Traveling with Textbooks" themed series, releasing nearly 20 tour routes designed for school groups, reported thepaper.cn.

According to Tongcheng Travel, popular family flight routes with departure dates between November 12 and 16 have seen a nearly 100 percent year-on-year increase over the past week. Popular destinations include Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Xi'an.

Data from Qunar.com showed that flight bookings departing from Ningbo between November 12 and 16 have increased by 2.18 times year-on-year. During the same period, flights departing from Foshan have grown by 2.76 times year-on-year, with the top three destinations being Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Among these, flight bookings to Beijing have increased by 1.9 times. 

On September 16, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and eight other ministries pledged to boost consumption, expand domestic demand and actively cultivate new growth points for services consumption.

A key proposal is to explore spring and autumn breaks for primary and secondary schools, offset by shorter summer and winter holidays. This restructuring is meant to create more opportunities for services consumption, such as tourism and travel, the MOFCOM said.

Market insiders said that the gradual implementation of the spring and autumn break system will inject new vitality into the domestic tourism market.

Retail sales rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

As policy measures to boost services consumption took effect, pent-up demand was released, which translated into stronger market growth, said Yu Jianxun, an official of the NBS.

Global Times