A growing number of regions are implementing spring and autumn breaks for primary and secondary schools, and in November many places will welcome their first autumn break, driving a wave of travel. On October 9, the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau released the citywide spring and autumn break schedule for primary and secondary schools, with unified implementation for compulsory education stage schools. The autumn break for the 2026 to 2027 school year is scheduled from November 17 to November 20, 2026, and the spring break from April 1 to April 2, 2027, with no further compensatory days off arranged. Quanzhou's first autumn break has a basic duration of three days, and some periods can be linked with weekends to form a five-day holiday. The city has uniformly clarified that spring and autumn breaks will not involve compensatory days off, make-up classes, or reductions to winter and summer vacations. Yuncheng's 2026 autumn break falls on November 5, 6, and 9, connecting with the weekend to form a five-day mini-holiday. Five prefecture-level cities in Shanxi have already officially announced autumn breaks. Yueyang's compulsory education stage autumn break runs from November 18 to 20, and combined with the weekend, students get five days off in total, with Hunan province implementing staggered scheduling across the province. Sichuan and Zhejiang, which already rolled out spring and autumn breaks provincewide in autumn 2025, have also scheduled autumn breaks in November this year across multiple cities. A reporter from Yicai reviewed public information and found that 15 provinces have now implemented spring and autumn breaks for primary and secondary schools provincewide. Since 2026, the policy has filled off-season passenger flow gaps and brought incremental growth to the tourism market. Emei Shan Tourism Company Limited stated clearly at its results briefing that the passenger flow boost from spring and autumn breaks has been significant. Peng Peng, executive president of the Guangdong Society of Economic Reform, analyzed that spring and autumn breaks can be linked with parents' paid leave, and appropriately staggering the timing across regions is also conducive to off-peak travel.
Emei Shan Tourism Co LtdNew autumn breaks in multiple regions drive a travel mini-peak, boosting off-season visitor demand for tourism operators like Emei Shan Tourism.
