Golden Week 2026 Fuels Extended Breaks and New Travel Routes: Trip.com Group Reveals Rising Destinations and Regional Trends

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With the Mid-Autumn Festival touchdown the Friday earlier than the Golden Week holidays in October this yr, Chinese travellers are shifting their holidays earlier to keep away from the vacation rush. More than half of the outbound flight bookings made are for departures earlier than the official vacation begins on October 1st, with every day departure quantity peaks on September twenty fifth and thirtieth.

Chinese vacationers aren’t simply departing earlier, they’re additionally making use of the prolonged break to take longer and additional journeys past the area. Bookings for hotel stays of seven nights and extra are seeing a year-on-year (YoY) leap of 123%, and even quicker development is seen for bookings in main European cities like London and Paris. Similarly, long-haul flight bookings are set to see double-digit YoY development, with demand concentrating amongst gateway cities in Europe, Australia and the United States.

One Trip, Multiple Destinations

As Chinese travellers enterprise additional, multi-destination journeys are experiencing a surge in demand. Bookings for multi-destination itineraries have risen by 84% YoY, reflecting a rising pattern to maximise long-haul journey throughout a number of cities. Southeast Asia and Europe are a number of the high locations for multi-stop journeys, and common mixtures embrace Singapore – Bali (Southeast Asia), Hong Kong – Sydney, and Amsterdam – Milan (Europe)^[1].

Rising Hotspots: Nature Escapes and Cultural Heritage Immersion

Mountain landscapes and coastal retreats are the place Chinese audiences are headed to this Golden Week, with searches for “scenic trips” and “nature getaways” up by 53% YoY. Coastal and high-altitude cities, together with Qingdao, Lhasa and Kashgar, are among the many fastest-growing home vacation locations by flight, whereas mountainous areas like Xiangxi, Zhangjiajie, and Guilin are quickly gaining reputation amongst domestic rail travellers.

Meanwhile, island holidays are in excessive demand amongst outbound Chinese travellers, with Jeju and Bali rating among the many high 10 most booked flight locations. Popular seaside locations in Southeast Asia are additionally seeing a pointy rise in curiosity from Chinese guests, with YoY flight bookings to Cebu and Phuket up by 111% and 78% respectively. Europe is a well-liked selection for long-haul holidays, with cultural hotspots like Brussels and Athens seeing important will increase in YoY flight bookings this yr.

Millennials and Gen Zs are main this pattern, with these aged 18 to 24 displaying the very best YoY development in bookings throughout age teams. Known for its pure landscapes, New Zealand is an rising vacation spot amongst Gen Z travellers, with Queenstown and Auckland capturing a YoY rise in flight bookings of 314% and 276% respectively. Secondary cities, together with Incheon and Chiang Mai, are additionally rising quickly in reputation amongst this age group^[2].

Inbound Tourism Growth as Asia Celebrates Mid-Autumn

With the Mid-Autumn Festival broadly celebrated throughout Asia, and China’s rising enchantment amongst worldwide travellers, inbound tourism is displaying robust indicators of development.

Lesser-known Chinese cities similar to Yanji, Dunhuang and Hailar are experiencing a number of the quickest will increase in flight bookings, whereas main cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou proceed to draw robust inbound journey flows, common with guests from Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, in addition to Australia.

With its wealthy cultural heritage and myriad points of interest, China is quick changing into a preferred vacation vacation spot throughout all ages. One of the top-booked points of interest amongst abroad guests this Golden Week is the Mutianyu Great Wall, which travellers can expertise by way of Trip.com’s free layover tour, Beijing Express. Launched in December 2024, the tour presents worldwide travellers with over 8 hours of layover time to discover Beijing’s high points of interest, together with Mutianyu Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square. Based on Trip.com’s Express Tours newest information, Mutianyu Great Wall route accounts for greater than half of all Beijing Express bookings, and is the preferred selection amongst abroad guests in the course of the prolonged Golden Week holidays. Other common points of interest embrace the Shanghai Disney Resort, Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, all ranked on Trip.Best’s 2026 global list of recommendations on ‘Best Things to Do‘^[3].

Long Holidays Drive Intra-Asia Travel

Globally, Seoul ranks as the highest vacation vacation spot throughout Golden Week this yr, with 91% YoY development in worldwide flight bookings. Beyond the bustling capital, international flight bookings to Busan, Cheongju and Daegu are additionally displaying three-digit YoY development, revealing South Korea’s multifaceted enchantment as a journey vacation spot. Meanwhile, Japan stays a preferred vacation spot for a lot of Asian travellers, together with these from Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea^[4].

This yr’s Mid-Autumn Festival additionally coincides with one of the necessary holidays in South Korea, Chuseok, fuelling additional journey exchanges throughout the area. Similar to Chinese vacationers, South Korean travellers can lengthen their Chuseok vacation by taking three days off (September 19-27), and Trip.com Group’s information exhibits that that is driving journey development, with flight bookings to Fukuoka and Shanghai seeing YoY will increase of 70% and 68% respectively. Japanese and Chinese travellers are the first drivers of this journey development, highlighting robust exchanges in demand throughout the area^[5].

Together, these patterns mirror strong journey development throughout Asia, boosted by lengthy and overlapping holidays.

About Trip.com Group

Trip.com Group is a worldwide journey service supplier comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group helps travellers world wide make knowledgeable and cost-effective bookings for journey services and products and allows companions to attach their choices with customers by way of the aggregation of travel-related content material and assets, and a complicated transaction platform consisting of apps, web sites and 24/7 customer support centres. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003 and HKEX in 2021, Trip.com Group is on the mission “to pursue the perfect trip for a better world”. Find out extra about Trip.com Group right here: group.trip.com.

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