(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) China's National Day "Golden Week" is approaching. Analysts point out that this year's holiday tourism shows a trend of longer travel times and farther destinations. However, due to the continued weakness in overall consumer spending, even if the number of tourists hits a new high, it may not bring more generous income to the tourism industry.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival (September 25) and National Day are approaching, and many tourists combine the two holidays to form a 13-day continuous holiday.
Reuters pointed out that the Golden Week is usually regarded as an important indicator for observing the consumption status of Chinese residents. However, this year's Golden Week coincides with weak consumer demand, ongoing deflationary pressures and a years-long housing market downturn.
While ultra-long vacations may bring significant revenue to the tourism industry, it is still unclear whether travel enthusiasm will prompt tourists to significantly increase their spending against the backdrop of near-stagnant consumption growth in the overall economy.
Reuters calculated based on official data that the number of tourists increased during last year's Golden Week, but per capita single-time consumption was only 911.04 yuan, the lowest level in the past three years.
Ailsa Liao, senior analyst at Forthright Securities, believes that consumers’ enthusiasm for travel continues to rise, but they are still very cautious about how much money they spend. "This creates a 'K-shaped consumption model': the number of travelers may be high, but per capita consumption expenditure is still under pressure."
In order to encourage consumption, the Chinese government launched the month-long "National Day Cultural and Tourism Consumption Month" event in late September, and simultaneously launched a 16-day railway transportation peak period. China State Railway Group has added high-speed trains and night train services.
Shanghai-based Spring and Autumn Travel said multi-country travel products are particularly popular this year. The travel agency said that the most obvious change in outbound travel this year is that tourists are willing to travel to further destinations, so outbound travel sales during the National Day this year grew faster than last year.
It is reported that long-distance travel routes to destinations such as Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, Northern Europe, Greece and New Zealand were all fully booked before mid-August. In addition, trips to Central Asia, the Caucasus and Australia are also sold out in advance.
Spring and Autumn Tourism said that in order to make full use of the long consecutive holidays, more than half of the long-distance tour group tourists had already set off before September 25.
Sienna Parulis-Cook, director of marketing and public relations at Dragon Trail International, told Reuters that the demand for outbound travel from Chinese tourists this year is significantly stronger than last year. An August survey by the company showed that 54% of respondents planned to travel abroad during the holidays, compared with only 35% in the same period last year.
She said the market is more cost-conscious than in the past. "Tourists are more concerned about whether the travel experience they receive is value for money." She also added that only 5% of the survey respondents said they planned to stay in luxury hotels, while 33% chose mid-range hotels.
According to data provided by Ctrip, more than half of passengers booking outbound tickets during the National Day holiday chose to depart before October 1, with the average travel time exceeding nine days. The number of hotel bookings for more than seven consecutive days also increased by 123% year-on-year, and multi-destination itinerary bookings increased by 84% year-on-year.
However, Ailsa Liao of Founder Securities emphasized that although the growing holiday season is expected to bring record tourist numbers, there is currently no sign that daily consumer spending will increase structurally. She pointed out that during the National Day Golden Week in 2025 and the Spring Festival in 2026, per capita tourism consumption expenditure declined. "An increase in visitor numbers does not necessarily mean a proportional increase in profits."
Kenny Zhao, who works for a Beijing real estate company, said he plans to go to Japan for five days during Golden Week. "With such a long vacation, I feel like it would be a waste if I stayed at home."
