The cruise ship sets sail. It's time to rediscover Hello.

The value of technology has never been limited to the iteration of functions. It can subtly change people's life rhythms and even bring new meaning to some of the most ordinary actions. Travel is one of them.

On the evening of September 13th, the "Hello Art Installation" illuminated the night sky along the Chongqing riverside, serving as the main setting for this year's "Hello Holiday Carnival". Many citizens stopped to take photos, sparking extensive discussions.

"Say hello to the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland", a seemingly light - hearted slogan, opens up room for imagination in the context of holiday consumption. It also makes more and more people realize that Hello, a company that started with bicycles, is no longer just "that Hello".

Nine years ago, Hello was a latecomer in the battle of shared bicycles. Nine years later, it has moved from mere survival to expansion. With its diversified business layout, it provides people with richer life experiences and connections.

The cruise sets sail,

The travel mindset that needs to be re - examined

Compared with previous years, this year's "Hello Holiday Carnival" seems to have a more prominent "presence": a cruise ship sailed downstream along the river. On the ship, there was a cloud interactive screen designed by artist Ma Liang. Users could upload messages about their hometowns through the Hello App, which would be projected on the screen in real - time, becoming a public memory of the journey.

The Hello App, as the main platform, almost covers the most generous discounts and benefits of the year. Hello Car Rental launched the "Arrange car rental in advance" activity in September. Through full - reduction vouchers and lucky draws, it encourages users to make advance bookings. Hello Rideshare invested 100 million yuan in incentives and distributed free - ride vouchers during the holiday to encourage ridesharing and off - peak travel. At the same time, Hello Bike and Hello Electric Bike Rental launched free - ride lucky draws and 10 million yuan in special subsidies respectively to help users travel easily.

The core logic behind these actions is the user. From instant short - distance travel (bicycles, electric bicycles) to medium - and long - distance travel (rideshare, car rental), Hello has built a matrix of full - scale travel scenarios. Among them, Hello Rideshare has covered more than 300 cities across the country, with more than 33 million certified car owners. Since its launch in 2021, Hello Car Rental has covered more than 680 cities and more than 100,000 service outlets, with a vehicle supply of more than 300,000.

For users, this means more convenient, reliable, and flexible choices: when it's difficult to get a high - speed rail ticket, they can carpool or drive by themselves. In the city, they can choose to ride a bike or an electric bike at any time. Hello is becoming a "scenario connector", truly connecting festival activities, cultural tourism, and travel.

More importantly, Hello also takes this opportunity to present the new perception anchor of "Use Hello for long - distance travel" to the public in the most intuitive way, allowing more people to positively experience a more comprehensive and "stronger" Hello.

The business advancement behind the festival creation

The essence of the "Hello Holiday Carnival" is an attempt to combine supply and consumption scenarios. Similar attempts are not new. Meituan launched the "City Roaming Map" during the summer vacation and National Day, and Ctrip also bound festival cultural tourism products with the concept of "Night Tours".

But Hello's intention is more direct: by leveraging the concentrated demand during the festival, it embeds its business into the triple scenarios of "holiday + travel + cultural tourism", making the platform services more naturally used and verifying its carrying capacity during the peak period.

This is significantly different from the common Internet festival - creating practices. In recent years, festival - creating often becomes a mere formality, with discounts and gimmicks becoming the mainstream, but users' sensitivity has decreased. In contrast, the cultural tourism economy, especially the holiday economy, has maintained relatively strong demand growth. Data shows that in 2024, domestic residents took 5.62 billion trips, a year - on - year increase of 14.8%. The total tourism expenditure was 5.8 trillion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 17.1%. Holidays have become the most certain consumption peak of the year. Embedding the business into it means seizing both the traffic and demand nodes.

As the scenarios continue to expand, Hello's brand image is also changing. In the past, it was regarded as an "extension of shared bicycles". Now, with the emergence of rideshare, car rental, and cross - border cooperation, Hello is no longer limited to functions but also implies a lifestyle.

Emotionally speaking, Hello not only tries to solve users' immediate travel problems but also wants to present a young and emotional brand image, "traveling farther" with users.

A more long - term layout focuses on Robotaxi. In September this year, Hello released its first mass - produced pre - installed model "HR1" at the Bund Summit, planning to start mass production in 2026 and deploy more than 50,000 vehicles in 2027. It can be seen that Hello uses the operational capabilities, user data, and travel scenarios accumulated from its existing two - wheeled and four - wheeled businesses to pave the way for future autonomous driving. In other words, without a large number of real - demand scenarios and a dispatching system, it is difficult for Robotaxi to form a positive cycle. Hello is accumulating resources for the future with its existing business. At the same time, Hello is not working alone but has reached cooperation with Alibaba Cloud, Hesai, Horizon, etc., forming a full - chain collaboration from technology to mass production. The industry generally believes that only by forming a synergy in computing power, sensors, cloud - end collaboration, etc., can Robotaxi achieve large - scale deployment.

The ninth anniversary of the brand makes this layout more meaningful. After experiencing the brutal competition in the shared bicycle market, Hello has not stopped at being a winner but has invested resources in a more long - term track. It doesn't just want to meet the current travel needs but hopes to redefine its position in the future.

Brand deepening,

The ultimate goal of festival - creating is experience

Beyond the business depth, what is more worthy of attention is the deepening of the brand. For brands, festival scenarios are still the most public narrative space. Consumer brands generally launch co - branded limited - edition products during the Mid - Autumn Festival and National Day to strengthen users' memories through festivals.

Hello's "Holiday Carnival" is obviously not just about chasing traffic. It tries to transform the relationship between the brand and users from "using a tool" to "sharing experiences". This may also be the real meaning of "Say hello to the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland": it is not only a marketing theme but also an emotional expression. For users, saying "Hello" at that moment is the release of festival ritual and an interaction with the mountains, rivers, and the journey.

In the past year, Hello has had numerous cross - border and cultural narratives in terms of brand building: it launched a golden bicycle with LOEWE, bringing luxury fashion to the streets; it collaborated with the NBA, introducing sports culture into daily travel; the independently created cycling event Hello100 transformed commuting into a community experience.

In a more competitive market, the logic behind these actions is not complicated - travel platforms need a sense of presence beyond functions. Beyond the business, the brand potential is expanding. Hello wants to combine technology and lifestyle more closely.

When travel is no longer just about "arriving" but becomes an experience in itself; when the brand is no longer just a "tool" but a part of the lifestyle, "Say hello to the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland" shows its emotional value: it is both a slogan and an expression of public emotion. For an Internet company that has been around for nine years, driven by both the business flywheel and brand mindset, continuously expanding its boundaries, this transformation may be the most worthy aspect for the outside world to pay attention to.