‘Golden Week’ bookings show Chinese travel preferences are evolving


Outbound travel from China is set to receive a much-anticipated jolt as “Golden Week” bookings show changes in where and why Chinese people are traveling.

Buoyed by falling airfares, Chinese travelers are booking more overseas trips for the National Day holiday period, which extends from Oct. 1 to 7, according to Fliggy, a major travel booking platform in China.

Data from Fliggy, an Alibaba Group subsidiary, shows travelers are headed to many of their usual haunts in Asia-Pacific: Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea plus Australia as well as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. The United States also made the list, it said.

But for the most part, the fastest growth in bookings is for trips to places outside the region: Chile, Croatia, Belgium, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka, company data shows.  

A report published Sept. 23 from Goldman Sachs Equity Research estimates China’s domestic travel volume to grow an “unexciting 5-6%” compared to last year’s holiday period. However, “outbound travel growth is likely to remain robust, +62% yoy” — or about 94% of 2019 levels, it said.

Longer trips, earlier bookings

Bookings for long-haul trips are up for the upcoming Golden Week, with top spots including the United Kingdom, as well as Australia and New Zealand, according to Trip.com. 

Oscar Wong | Moment | Getty Images

Seeking quiet and concerts

As Chinese tourists continue to move beyond organized sightseeing tours abroad, more are seeking to celebrate Golden Week in off-the-beaten-path locations, especially in Asia and Europe, according to Trip.com’s data.

Bookings to Japan show travelers are bypassing Tokyo and Kyoto for places like Yokohama, Takayama and Ito, which saw triple-digit growth during the Golden Week period, the company said. Interest in visiting the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc is also on the rise, its data showed.

In Europe, bookings in Spain rose 260% to the city of Granada and 144% to Seville, according to Trip.com.

A Fliggy report shows more travelers are renting cars and booking cruises during Golden Week, while interest in outdoor activities like hiking, fishing and sailing jumped too.

Like the rest of the world, live entertainment is a huge driver for Chinese travelers.  

According to Trip.com, more than 75% of Golden Week travelers visiting Asia-Pacific are millennials, who are booking trips to Hong Kong to see John Legend, as well as K-pop acts like Taemin and Taeyang.

Hong Kong is expected to welcome as many as 1.2 million mainland Chinese visitors during the coming Golden Week holiday, up 10% from last year, according to the city’s Travel Industry Council.

Spending expected to be resilient

Despite continued turmoil in China’s economy, travelers are spending nearly 6% more than they did during last year’s Golden Week, according to Fliggy.

In a report about Chinese online travel agencies, HSBC Global Research stated, We are bullish into the Golden Week … as we expect traffic to grow strongly on lower air and hotel prices.”

Citing the Beijing-based online travel agency Qunar, the report noted that Chinese people from smaller cities are choosing to travel abroad now too.

According to Qunar, outbound travel is picking up in lower-tier cities, with bookings from third-tier ones and below “growing 2.5x y-o-y, and that from second-tier cities at +76%.”



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