Upcoming holiday to spark surge in tourism

Chinese consumers have shown greater interest in traveling during the upcoming holiday, which is one day longer than usual, and travelers have booked their trips further in advance, with long-haul outbound travel proving extremely popular.

As of early September, the number of consumers planning to travel during the holiday had already surged by 130 percent year-on-year, according to Chinese tourism services firm U-tour.

It found that domestic travelers had booked accommodation at over 2,800 hotels globally as of early September. In terms of hotel booking volumes, some of the most popular destinations include Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, according to Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

Egypt, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Cambodia and Sweden recorded the highest growth rates in hotel bookings, Qunar said.

Tourism agencies found that the peak travel period will run from Sept 29 to Oct 12, with more office workers requesting three days of leave to combine into a 12-day extended holiday.

Chinese travelers' enthusiasm for overseas travel has been boosted by more convenient visa-free policies rolled out by multiple countries. For example, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have introduced reciprocal visa-free policies with China, while South Korea and Russia have launched visa-free entry for group tours.

"Chinese travelers are no longer satisfied with tours that check out different scenic spots. Instead, they prefer to have in-depth experiences in a single country. With ample time during the National Day holiday, Chinese tourists are traveling to more distant destinations for more in-depth experiences," said Cai Muzi, a Qunar researcher.

"As a representative of ancient civilizations, Egypt enjoys pleasant weather in autumn. Besides, Russia offers the chance to see the aurora, and Norway's unique fjord landscape is best viewed in the fall," Cai said.

Trip.com Group, China's largest online travel agency, found that Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia remain popular destinations for Chinese travelers, and countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have become more sought-after.

More Chinese travelers are showing higher interest in visiting Africa, and the booking volume of travel products to Kenya and Tanzania during the holiday has surged 130 percent year-on-year, Trip.com found.

Meanwhile, a large number of foreign visitors plan to travel to China during the holiday, with some of the most popular destinations being Shanghai; Beijing; Guangzhou, Guangdong province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Qunar found.

For source markets of inbound foreign tourists, the top five countries with the highest growth rate during the National Day holiday are Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Spain, Hungary and Saudi Arabia, according to Qunar.

Issac Nyaganya, a student from Tanzania studying in Chongqing, has no plans to return to his home country during the holiday and will travel to multiple places in China to experience more beautiful scenery. He booked his trips on the English version platform of Qunar.

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn