100% jump in China’s outbound travel bookings during Labour Day holidays – WiT

According to a new report from Fliggy, one of China’s key travel platforms, bookings for travel services from Chinese tourists during the five-day Labour Day holiday from May 1 to 5 saw nearly 100% growth, building on last year’s rapid rebound.

Key Findings from Fliggy’s Labor Day Holiday Travel Report 2024:

• Outbound travel bookings saw a nearly 100% YoY increase during the five-day holiday
  
• Independent travel took up 80% of the total outbound travel bookings
  
• Overseas hotel bookings doubled YoY
  
• Bookings for outbound cruise packages increased by more than 15 times YoY
  
• The average price per person for international air tickets dropped by more than 10% YoY
  
• Per capita spending on overseas car rentals rose more than 20% YoY
  
• Per capita spending on outbound travel during this holiday period surpassed that of 2019 by a significant margin
  
• Popular outbound destinations include Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, USA, Macau SAR, and Indonesia
  
• Long-distance travel to destinations such as Austria, Turkey, Morocco, Russia, Portugal, Georgia, Egypt, Spain, Kazakhstan, and Brazil experienced the fastest growth, with bookings on average quadrupling compared to the previous year

The report revealed that overseas hotel booking volume rose about 100% year-on-year, while the booking value of overseas car rentals surged three times year-on-year.

China also witnessed a boom of international cruise passenger trips during the holiday, with bookings going up by over 15 times from the previous year.

Data from online travel agency Trip.com Group showed that Chinese tourists travelled to nearly 200 countries and regions around the world during the holiday, covering over 3,000 cities.

Popular destinations for outbound tourism included Hong Kong, Macao, countries in Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia also saw rapid growth of Chinese tourists.

During the eight-day Spring Festival holiday in February, China’s outbound tourism soared about 10 times year-on-year, hitting a record high in recent four years.

According to the Ctrip Research Institute, China’s inbound and outbound tourism entered the rebound fast lane starting from Spring Festival, and relevant supply chain entities expect recovery to accelerate.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the per capita disposable income of Chinese residents reached 11,539 yuan ($1,625.17) in the first quarter of the year, with per capita consumer spending hitting 7,299 yuan.

To further support the potential of outbound tourism, China has signed mutual visa-free agreements with several countries this year. Also, the country’s international flight capacity has been increased.