Unveiling the Resurgence: China’s Domestic Tourism Soars to Pre-Pandemic Heights

BEIJING — China’s “Golden Week” holiday witnessed a significant rebound in domestic tourism, nearing pre-pandemic levels. However, the recovery in overseas travel was not as robust, according to official data.

The official figures for the eight-day holiday that concluded on Friday were also lower than the government’s initial predictions.

During Golden Week, domestic tourism revenue amounted to 753.43 billion yuan ($103.24 billion), representing a 1.5% increase from 2019, as reported by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The ministry also stated that the number of domestic tourist trips increased by 4.1% to 826 million during this year’s eight-day holiday.

Both these figures were lower than what the Chinese state media had earlier reported, predicting 896 million trips and 782.5 billion yuan in domestic tourism revenue.

Nevertheless, this final tourism revenue figure indicates a rebound to 2019 levels for the first time since China lifted its Covid-19 restrictions late last year, noted Morgan Stanley’s Chief China Economist Robin Xing and their team in a Friday note.

According to the Morgan Stanley analysts, per capita spending has reached 98% of 2019 levels, significantly higher than the 85% figure observed earlier in the year during other holidays.

“The extra-long Golden Week holiday (eight days compared to the usual seven) likely contributed to this, as it encouraged long-distance travel and subsequently boosted average spending,” stated the analysts.

Due to the proximity of the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and the October 1 National Holiday, Beijing declared an eight-day holiday from September 29 to October 6. This alignment resulted in the subsequent Saturday and Sunday being considered official working days, although some businesses did not resume operations until Monday.

In a country where paid vacation days are typically limited, this extended break led to more people choosing to travel internationally.

During the holiday, the National Immigration Administration documented approximately 11.8 million trips to and from mainland China, averaging nearly 1.5 million trips per day — equivalent to 85.1% of 2019 levels, as reported by the National Immigration Administration.

These figures fell short of earlier predictions from state media, which forecasted almost 1.6 million cross-border trips per day.

Chinese travel booking site Trip.com Group revealed that outbound travel during the holiday increased more than eightfold compared to the previous year, with individuals in their mid-20s to early 30s accounting for around 30% of travelers. Popular destinations included Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea. The site also observed significant growth in tourist numbers from China to Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the U.K., and France compared to China’s Labor Day holiday in May. However, no comparisons were provided to 2019 figures. CEO Jane Sun previously mentioned that lengthy visa application wait times, such as two to six months for trips to Europe, deterred Chinese travelers from going abroad as much as they would like.

The increase in Chinese tourism coincided with a slowdown in the country’s post-pandemic recovery, partly due to a slump in the property market.

“The National Day golden week tourism data, together with the still above-50 September services [purchasing managers indexes], suggest the services recovery has decelerated but continues,” stated Goldman Sachs analysts in a note on Sunday.

The report also highlighted the need for additional policy easing to further stimulate consumption and services, especially considering the ongoing property decline and subdued confidence.

The analysts maintained their forecast of 5.4% GDP growth for China this year.