During China’s 7-day National Day holidays, 765 million domestic trips were made, representing a 5.9% year-on-year increase. Inbound and outbound travel by mainland residents surged 33.2% to 7.589 million trips.
According to data from Fliggy, outbound travel bookings for the holiday period jumped by over 50% compared to last year, and international hotel bookings recovered to about 120% of 2019 levels.
A significant portion of the outbound travelers are from China’s middle and affluent classes, previously concentrated mainly in first- and second-tier cities.
The introduction of visa exemptions by popular destinations like Singapore and Thailand in recent years have further fueled the surge in outbound tourism.The introduction of visa exemptions by popular destinations like Singapore and Thailand in recent years have further fueled the surge in outbound tourism.
Outbound travel from smaller cities is also gaining momentum. Daily outbound travel bookings from fourth-tier cities doubled, while fifth-tier cities saw a staggering 300% increase during the holiday period.
The impact of affluent travelers flocking abroad extends beyond a redistribution of domestic tourist numbers. More critically, it drains high-end consumer spending power from the domestic economy.
Take this year’s National Day as an example: 765 million domestic tourists spent 700.817 billion yuan, averaging just 916 yuan per person.
In comparison, mainland Chinese tourists in Japan spent an average of 283,900 yen (approximately 14,000 yuan) per person in the second quarter this year—the highest among all foreign visitors to Japan.
This outflow of spending power has directly impacted Hainan’s offshore duty-free market.
Haikou Customs reported duty-free sales of 785 million yuan during the National Day holiday,, with an average daily sales of 112 million yuan—a 32.55% year-on-year decrease.
