Couples are planning romantic trips as the Qixi Festival, often known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day, approaches.

According to Shanghai-based online travel agency Trip.com, users in Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu were the most active in making reservations for the event falling on Tuesday, which saw a more than 300 percent increase from the same period last year.

Lijiang, Dali, Weihai, Yangshuo, and Zhoushan are among the most popular places to stay at a rural minsu (the Chinese equivalent of a B&B), and the number of orders for rural homestays costing more than 1,000 yuan per night increased by more than 600 percent from the previous year.

According to Trip.com, female consumers ordered the majority of the remote homestays for the event.

Travel review site Mafengwo noted that the event is frequently observed by young people through exhibits, bazaars, concerts, and activities centered around guochao (China chic) and hanfu (Han-style clothing).

More and more lovers are going on dates in art galleries, and the trend is even more pronounced in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen, stated Mafengwo.

Moreover, as more young people go for summer bike rides after work, cityride is becoming more and more popular, with pertinent searches jumping by 166% in the most recent week.

The event also has other well-liked choices such as amusement parks, guofeng-style, or “traditional Chinese fashion” bazaars, hanfu, and activities showcasing intangible cultural heritage. It also noted that the popularity index of Shanghai Disney Resort had increased by 150 percent in the previous week and that Happy Valley amusement parks on average across the country had seen increases of over 50 percent.

A travel boom was already evident this weekend, according to Lvmama, a Shanghai-based online travel agency, as many couples planned their celebrations in advance to escape the workday.

The popularity of amusement parks, night excursions, cycling, and camping led to a roughly 40% increase in weekend tourists from the previous weekend.

Medium- and high-end hotel reservations increased this weekend compared to previous weekend by 52%.

Couples are turning to concerts and bazaars as new places to meet, and this weekend in Shanghai, several of the popular hotels close to performance sites were completely booked.

“China’s tourism market is developing towards a diversified and personalized trend as shown in the traditional festival,” Shine.com quoted Lu Xulan, a tourism analyst as saying. “This prompts tourism operators to develop and provide more new and diversified options to cater to tourists’ demand, which is of significance in boosting tourism consumption and spurring the vitality of the industry”.