On Sept 30, ahead of the National Day holiday, Meituan launched a RMB 100 million subsidy campaign covering dining delivery, dine-in, hotels, travel, flash retail and pharmacy — its full local-life stack. Dianping's premium delivery is handing out 50 million dining coupons through Oct 12. Platform data show restaurant bookings for the holiday up more than 110% year on year, private-room bookings for 3-4 diners up over 90%, travel bookings up 73%; pre-holiday baijiu sales rose roughly eightfold and mooncake sales doubled.
China's holiday economy still flexes: platforms spend real money to buy traffic, and local consumption releases in bursts around Golden Week. For overseas consumer and F&B brands, this is a low-cost testing window — riding festival marketing moments with platform-subsidized traffic is far cheaper than building your own channel. Next big beats are Double 11 and Chinese New Year; lock in selection and inventory planning now.