During this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day a trending topic on Chinese social media was “the whole world knows China is on holiday”. Chinese tourists ventured further overseas, while international visitors continued to pour into China. China recorded 15.46 million inbound and outbound border crossings during the National Day holiday from October 1 to 7, up 6.7% year-on-year, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA). Chinese mainland residents made 4.44 million outbound crossings, up 9.3%, while foreign nationals made 682,000 inbound entries, an increase of 5.4%. Of those foreign entries, 505,000 were visa-free, a rise of 9.2%. With the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday falling between September 25 and 27, travelers could take three days of annual leave to create a 13-day-long break, opening up opportunities for longer and more distant journeys.
Europe was the leading long-haul destination for clients of the Beijing-based travel operator Utour Group during the National Day holiday, with a 140% year-on-year increase in Europe-bound travel bookings. The region accounted for nearly half of Utour Group’s outbound business during the holiday period. Marketing Manager Li Mengran said that demand for Europe, North America and Oceania reflected Chinese travelers’ growing appetite for higher-quality overseas experiences. The growth, however, was uneven. Japan dropped out of the top 10 of overseas destinations on travel platform Tuniu this year, after ranking first a year earlier. Indonesia, Turkiye and South Korea were among popular choices. Arrivals in Japan from the Chinese mainland fell 56.7% year-on-year to about 2.9 million in the first eight months.
Meanwhile, overseas visitors were increasingly discovering more of China. Trip.com Group reported double-digit growth in inbound travel during the combined holiday period, with bookings from Russia jumping 173% year-on-year. Britain, Malaysia and Canada each registered growth exceeding 50%. Wu Liyun, Professor at the China Academy of Culture and Tourism at the Beijing International Studies University, attributed the growth to expanded visa-free policies, China’s rising visibility on social media overseas, and interest in experiencing Chinese festivities, the China Daily reports.
