Tourists visit an ancient street in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, Aug 9, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

The ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games and the upcoming eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period will fire China's consumer market, as well as the tourism market is expected to reach a peak, the cnr.cn reported on Monday.

The 19th Asian Games was held in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province from Sept 23 to Oct 8. By Sept 20, the dine-in orders of the catering industry surged 380 percent from the same period in 2019, according to data from online platforms including Meituan and Dianping.

The rooms of hotels and Minsu (Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast establishments) in the host city Hangzhou, as well as co-host cities including Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, and Jinhua, almost have sold out.

Now, Hangzhou has ranked among the top 10 popular railway destinations during the National Day holiday.

Tourists visit a beach in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Aug 6, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

By Sept 18, the booking number of air tickets to Hangzhou increased 20 percent compared with the same period of 2019 at travel portal Qunar during the Asian Games, the hotel booking number jumped 4.4 times, and the scenic spot ticket sales grew 20 percent.

The Asian Games is driving tourism consumption in the host city and co-host cities.

The search volume of Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua increased 2 times month-on-month in recent weeks, according to the Qunar. During the Asian Games, the hotel booking volume and entrance tickets in these co-host cities soared over 5 times and over 3 times compared with the same period of 2019.

The Asian Games also bring sports fever to the country. As of Sept 20 the number of sports and fitness orders in Zhejiang province grew 150 percent year-on-year, with the popularity of ball sports and fitness centers rising the fastest.

People watch a three-player basketball match of the Hangzhou Asian Games in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, Sept 25, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

Catering is an essential element of mass tourism, and gourmet food is a rigid demand to well-off tourism, said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, at a forum.

Gourmet food has become a new driving force for facilitating tourism consumption and promoting tourism to high-quality development.

This year, many young people turned their eyes to some small-crowd cities with characteristics for enjoying a leisurely holiday while having a good meal, as well as avoiding the surging tide during the eight-day holiday.

According to a list of popular small-crowd tourism destinations from Mafengwo, a travel service and social networking platform, more than half of cities stand out for their gourmet food.

Quanzhou of Fujian province, Taizhou of Zhejiang province, Leshan of Sichuan province, and Liuzhou of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with gourmet food such as ancient flavor food, seafood, and luosifen (river snail rice noodles) are ranked in the list.