October 1st, 2026: National Day Golden Week-Our Turnstile Gates Are Getting Busy

  This year, the traditional Chinese festival the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month) falls on September 25, with a holiday from September 25 to 27; plus China's National Day, marking the founding of the country, is a holiday from October 1 to 7. Only three working days separate the two holidays, so many people choose to "take 3 days off to get 13 days off," resting from September 24 or 25 all the way to October 7. The holiday is longer than in previous years. Many universities, high schools, and other boarding schools have also adopted flexible adjusted time off, making this year's National Day holiday especially lively. Our factory has also adjusted part of its production plan to follow employees' needs and made preparations for the holiday in advance.

    As the holiday approaches, the factory workshop gradually quiets down. The turnstile mechanisms that had been busy turning in the workshop have also stopped being tested. The AI-recognition turnstile gate at the employee entrance of the cleanroom has gone idle. The sliding gate turnstile at the office building has begun to go idle. The UHF-recognition turnstile gate in the logistics warehouse, busy nonstop every day, has gone idle. Only I was still there, busy keeping an eye on pre-holiday orders and shipments. Just when I thought everyone in the world was slowing down except me, I looked up and was surprised to find that the outside world was starting to get busy.

    From tripod gates at outdoor scenic areas, swing gates in supermarkets, wing gates at various transportation hubs, dual-verification speed gates at customs, to rotary turnstiles in museums of all kinds... From card swiping to facial recognition and AI camera monitoring and recognition, these devices run almost around the clock during the National Day holiday.

    Data from an online travel website shows that, as of September 14, search interest for "Mid-Autumn" and "National Day" grew 278% month-on-month, and booking interest for flights to popular domestic cities rose more than 40% year-on-year. Tourist site forecasts show that orders for ultra-long trips of 10 days or more accounted for 26%, and family and three-generation travel groups made up more than 70%. The Mid-Autumn Festival is mainly for visiting relatives and family reunions, while National Day ushers in a travel peak. The two waves of passenger flow overlap, doubling the pressure on scenic area entrances.

    Passenger flow data also confirms this surge. In the first half of the holiday, nationwide cross-regional passenger trips totaled about 1.243 billion, averaging more than 310 million per day; nighttime passenger flow at national-level nighttime cultural and tourism consumption clusters reached 96.8623 million. Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding received about 448,600 visitors, and major scenic spots in Guangzhou received 3.6499 million visitors, up 17.99% year-on-year.

    Facing heavy passenger flow, traditional manual ticket checking has long been overwhelmed, and more and more scenic areas are choosing intelligent turnstile gates. Huangguoshu Scenic Area upgraded its ticket-checking gates, connecting facial, ID, and order verification to achieve "entry with one face scan"; Langzhong Confucian Temple Scenic Area deployed 19 smart gates, so visitors do not need to collect or exchange tickets and can pass directly by scanning their faces. Turnstile gates are no longer just "doors that block people," but smart terminals that integrate ticket verification, passenger flow statistics, and data transmission. When passenger flow reaches 80% of maximum capacity, the system can automatically issue an early warning, buying time for scenic area scheduling.

    The National Day holiday is a peak for cultural and tourism consumption, and also a time when turnstile gate equipment faces a major test. We hope every turnstile gate runs stably and every visitor passes through quickly. We also remind visitors to book tickets in advance, travel during off-peak times, pass through the gates in an orderly manner, and keep their personal belongings safe. Others have already gone on holiday, while I am still busy shipping orders before the holiday—but when I think of our turnstile gates getting busy at scenic spots across the country, I feel a little more grounded. May everyone have fun, travel smoothly, and enjoy a safe and happy National Day holiday during this ultra-long Golden Week.