Hotel bookings for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival holiday have surged ahead of the long weekend, with travelers taking advantage of lower airfares and strong interest in traditional cultural activities, online travel platform Qunar said on Thursday.

Bookings for hotel stays on Thursday were more than 40 percent higher than the previous day, according to Qunar data.

The three-day holiday — which starts on Friday without additional make-up workdays — has boosted demand for short-distance trips around major cities, with many train tickets on popular routes from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in Guangdong province already sold out.

Traditional folk culture remains a major draw for travelers. Searches related to Dragon Boat Festival themes — including dragon boat races and sticky rice dumplings, also known as zongzi — more than tripled from a month earlier, Qunar said.

The platform said destinations hosting dragon boat events and cultural activities have seen strong spikes in booking, particularly in southern provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi.

The holiday, which falls between the May Day break and the peak summer travel season, is also emerging as one of the cheapest travel periods of the year.

According to Qunar, the average airfare for departures on Saturday is the lowest of any day in the next two months, with domestic ticket prices about 40 percent below levels typically seen in July and August.

Inbound tourism is also gaining momentum as foreign visitors arrive to experience Dragon Boat Festival traditions. Guangzhou, which will host the Guangzhou International Dragon Boat Invitational Tournament on Saturday, featuring 105 teams from 20 countries and regions, has seen inbound flight bookings rise 50 percent from a year earlier, Qunar said.

Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Shenzhen ranked among the most popular destinations for inbound travelers during the holiday period, with visitors from countries including Canada, Britain, Vietnam, South Korea, the United States, and Australia driving demand.

Web editors: Shen Jianqi, Zhang Rui