'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.

Trip.com, China's largest online travel agency, also shows a "significant shift" toward long-haul destinations for the upcoming Golden Week, with Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain leading the list among long-haul bookings.  

The average Golden Week booking this year is more than seven days, but those headed to Europe are staying up to twice as long, according to the company.

While most Golden Week travelers are choosing mid-tier accommodations, growth for five-star hotels in Europe is almost three times higher in Europe than in Asia-Pacific, company data showed.

According to Trip.com, nearly 1 in 3 travelers to Europe booked multi-destination itineraries, whereas 80% of Golden Week bookings within Asia-Pacific are for single-destination trips, according to Trip.com.    

ASEAN nations have discussed creating a Schengen-like visa to incentivize travelers to visit multiple countries while in the region. But so far, the visa — which would apply to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam — has not materialized.

Another mark of recovery? Travelers are planning trips further in advance, a mark of rising confidence to travel. Travelers submitted visa applications, on average, 68 days before their trips, some 29 days earlier than last year, according to Trip.com.

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.

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%."