Outbound travel from China is ready to receive a much-anticipated jolt as “Golden Week” bookings show changes in where and why Chinese persons 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, in response to Fliggy, a serious travel booking platform in China.
Data from Fliggy, an Alibaba Group subsidiary, shows travelers are headed to lots of their usual haunts in Asia-Pacific: Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea plus Australia in addition to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. The USA also made the list, it said.
But for probably 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%” in comparison with last 12 months’s holiday period. Nevertheless, “outbound travel growth is prone to remain robust, +62% yoy” — or about 94% of 2019 levels, it said.
Longer trips, earlier bookings
Trip.com, China’s largest online travel agency, also shows a “significant shift” toward long-haul destinations for the upcoming Golden Week, with Australia, america, Recent Zealand, the UK, France, and Spain leading the list amongst long-haul bookings.
The common Golden Week booking this 12 months is greater than seven days, but those headed to Europe are staying as much as twice as long, in response to the corporate.
While most Golden Week travelers are selecting mid-tier accommodations, growth for five-star hotels in Europe is nearly 3 times higher in Europe than in Asia-Pacific, company data showed.
Bookings for long-haul trips are up for the upcoming Golden Week, with top spots including the UK, in addition to Australia and Recent Zealand, in response to Trip.com.
Oscar Wong | Moment | Getty Images
In response to Trip.com, nearly 1 in 3 travelers to Europe booked multi-destination itineraries, whereas 80% of Golden Week bookings inside Asia-Pacific are for single-destination trips, in response to Trip.com.
ASEAN nations have discussed making a Schengen-like visa to incentivize travelers to go to multiple countries while within the region. But to this point, the visa — which might apply to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam — has not materialized.
One other mark of recovery? Travelers are planning trips further upfront, a mark of rising confidence to travel. Travelers submitted visa applications, on average, 68 days before their trips, some 29 days sooner than last 12 months, in response to Trip.com.
Looking for quiet and live shows
As Chinese tourists proceed to maneuver beyond organized sightseeing tours abroad, more are searching for to have a good time Golden Week in off-the-beaten-path locations, especially in Asia and Europe, in response 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 throughout the Golden Week period, the corporate said. Interest in visiting the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc can be on the rise, its data showed.
In Europe, bookings in Spain rose 260% to the town of Granada and 144% to Seville, in response to Trip.com.
A Fliggy report shows more travelers are renting cars and booking cruises during Golden Week, while interest in outdoor activities like climbing, fishing and sailing jumped too.
Like the remaining of the world, live entertainment is a large driver for Chinese travelers.
In response to Trip.com, greater than 75% of Golden Week travelers visiting Asia-Pacific are millennials, who’re booking trips to Hong Kong to see John Legend, in addition to K-pop acts like Taemin and Taeyang.
Hong Kong is predicted to welcome as many as 1.2 million mainland Chinese visitors throughout the coming Golden Week holiday, up 10% from last 12 months, in response to the town’s Travel Industry Council.
Spending expected to be resilient
Despite continued turmoil in China’s economy, travelers are spending nearly 6% greater than they did during last 12 months’s Golden Week, in response to Fliggy.
In a report about Chinese online travel agencies, HSBC Global Research stated, “We’re 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 selecting to travel abroad now too.
In response 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%.”
