Outbound departures peak earlier than official Golden Week holidays, as Chinese travellers search respite with nature escapes and cultural exploration
Seoul ranks as the highest abroad vacation vacation spot globally, with 91% YoY enhance in flight bookings made
SINGAPORE, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chinese travellers are gearing up for one of many busiest journey intervals, as Trip.com Group’s newest knowledge reveals earlier departures and longer journeys deliberate this Golden Week. By taking three days off this yr, staff can lengthen their vacation right into a 13-day break, combining their Golden Week and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays into one. Outbound departures are anticipated to spike as early as September twenty fifth, with a mean journey size of over 9 days.
Earlier Departures and Longer Trips
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 are usually not 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) bounce of 123%, and even sooner progress is seen for bookings in main European cities like London and Paris. Similarly, long-haul flight bookings are set to see double-digit YoY progress, 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 standard combos embody 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 recognition 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 seashore 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 alternative for long-haul holidays, with cultural hotspots like Brussels and Athens seeing vital will increase in YoY flight bookings this yr.
Millennials and Gen Zs are main this pattern, with these aged 18 to 24 exhibiting the best YoY progress 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 recognition amongst this age group[2].
Inbound Tourism Growth as Asia Celebrates Mid-Autumn
With the Mid-Autumn Festival extensively celebrated throughout Asia, and China’s rising attraction amongst worldwide travellers, inbound tourism is exhibiting robust indicators of progress.
Lesser-known Chinese cities akin 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, standard 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 turning into a well-liked 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 through Trip.com’s free layover tour, Beijing Express. Launched in December 2024, the tour provides 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 knowledge, Mutianyu Great Wall route accounts for greater than half of all Beijing Express bookings, and is the preferred alternative amongst abroad guests through the prolonged Golden Week holidays. Other standard points of interest embody 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 progress in worldwide flight bookings. Beyond the bustling capital, international flight bookings to Busan, Cheongju and Daegu are additionally exhibiting three-digit YoY progress, revealing South Korea’s multifaceted attraction as a journey vacation spot. Meanwhile, Japan stays a well-liked 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 vital essential 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 knowledge reveals that that is driving journey progress, 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 progress, highlighting robust exchanges in demand throughout the area[5].
Together, these patterns mirror sturdy journey progress throughout Asia, boosted by lengthy and overlapping holidays.
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 around the globe make knowledgeable and cost-effective bookings for journey services and products and permits companions to attach their choices with customers by way of the aggregation of travel-related content material and sources, 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.
[1] Based on Trip.com Group knowledge from September 25 – October 7, 2026. Year-on-year progress is calculated by evaluating the every day quantity averages between the prolonged Golden Week 2026 journey interval (September 25 – October 7, 2026) and Golden Week 2025 journey interval (October 1-8, 2025).
[2] Based on Trip.com Group knowledge from October 1-7, 2026. Year-on-year progress is calculated by evaluating the every day quantity averages between the core Golden Week 2026 journey interval (October 1-7, 2026) and Golden Week 2025 journey interval (October 1-8, 2025).
[3] Based on Trip.com knowledge from September 25 – October 7, 2026.
[4] Based on Trip.com Group knowledge from October 1-7, 2026. Year-on-year progress is calculated by evaluating the every day quantity averages between the core Golden Week 2026 journey interval (October 1-7, 2026) and Golden Week 2025 journey interval (October 1-8, 2025).
[5] Based on Trip.com knowledge from September 19-27, 2026. Year-on-year progress is calculated by evaluating the every day quantity averages between the prolonged Chuseok 2026 journey interval (September 19-27, 2026) and Chuseok 2025 journey interval (October 3-9, 2025).
