Golden Week 2026 Outbound Travel: China Market Data and Trends
China’s border police expect 2.15 million crossings per day during the 2026 National Day holiday, which runs from October 1 to 7. That is the official forecast from the National Immigration Administration, published on September 22. Add the Mid-Autumn holiday a week earlier, which closed at 6.709 million crossings (+16.8% year on year), and you get the biggest autumn travel window Chinese border control has ever planned for.
This report pulls together what Chinese sources actually published about outbound travel during Golden Week 2026: border data, airline capacity, booking data from Qunar, Fliggy, Tongcheng, Airbnb and CYTS, and the policy changes behind the numbers. It covers where Chinese travelers are going, who they are, what they spend, which destinations are winning and which are losing, and what a hotel, a destination or an operator abroad should do with all this before the next holiday.
I spent years on the supplier side at CITS and Ctrip before founding this agency. Every October, the same thing happens: foreign partners read “record Golden Week” headlines and assume the wave will reach them. Some years it does. This year, the data says the wave is real but very unevenly spread.
Golden Week 2026 outbound travel: 5 key figures
- 2.15 million border crossings per day forecast for the National Day holiday, October 1 to 7, 2026, with peaks on October 1 and 4 (National Immigration Administration, September 22, 2026).
- 6.709 million crossings during the Mid-Autumn holiday, September 25 to 27, 2026, up 16.8% year on year (National Immigration Administration, September 28, 2026).
- 7,300+ outbound international flights scheduled by Chinese civil aviation over the holiday, with Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia as the hottest countries (CAAC forecast reported by The Paper, September 18, 2026).
- About 3x: outbound search volume from Chinese travelers on Airbnb for the 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day period, compared with the May Day holiday (Airbnb, September 2026).
- +20.18%: average order value of outbound trips sold by CYTS Aoyou for National Day 2026, year on year (CYTS Aoyou National Day 2026 travel report, September 30, 2026).
What Tourism Brands Are Asking About Golden Week 2026
These are the questions hotel groups, destination offices and tour operators asked us in September. Each one gets a data answer further down.
Is Chinese outbound travel still growing in 2026?
Yes, but slower for mainland residents than the headline numbers suggest. The section on 2026 trends breaks down who is actually crossing the border.
Which countries are Chinese tourists choosing for Golden Week 2026?
Short-haul Asia dominates volume, Europe dominates value. The destination table shows what each platform reports.
Is it too late to target Golden Week travelers?
For 2026, yes. Long-haul trips were booked four to eight weeks out. For Chinese New Year 2027, you are on time, and the solutions section explains the order of work.
Who is the Golden Week outbound traveler in 2026?
Older and richer than most brands think, at least on long-haul. The consumer section has the age and spending data.
Do I need Xiaohongshu, Douyin, or a listing on Ctrip and Fliggy?
You need the right one first, not all of them at once. We explain the mechanism and the budget logic in the solutions block.
Golden Week 2026 Outbound Trends: What the Data Shows
A 13-day travel window, created by “ask 3, rest 13”
In 2026, Mid-Autumn Festival fell on Friday, September 25, and the official holiday ran September 25 to 27. National Day runs October 1 to 7. Only three working days sit in between, September 28 to 30. Chinese social media named the trick “请3休13”: take three days of leave, get thirteen days off.
This matters more than any destination ranking. A 13-day window opens long-haul and multi-country trips that a 7-day holiday does not allow. Airbnb reports an average trip length of 7 days for Chinese outbound bookings over the period. Tongcheng reports that multi-country package bookings grew more than 65% year on year, with an average of 2.8 countries per itinerary (reported by Guangming Daily, September 24, 2026).
Border traffic: record totals, slower mainland growth
Here is the official border data for the last two autumn holidays. Note that 2025 merged Mid-Autumn and National Day into one 8-day holiday (October 1 to 8), while 2026 splits them.
| Holiday period | Total crossings | Daily average | Mainland residents | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Day + Mid-Autumn 2025 (Oct 1-8, 8 days) | 16.343 million (+11.5%) | 2.043 million | 9.165 million (+9.6%) | NIA, Oct 9, 2025 |
| Mid-Autumn 2026 (Sep 25-27, 3 days) | 6.709 million (+16.8%) | 2.236 million | 3.206 million (+5.3%) | NIA, Sep 28, 2026 |
| National Day 2026 (Oct 1-7, 7 days), forecast | about 15.05 million (our calculation: 2.15 million x 7) | 2.15 million | not yet published | NIA forecast, Sep 22, 2026 |
Look at the last column. During the 2026 Mid-Autumn holiday, crossings by Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents grew 27.7% and crossings by foreigners grew 37.7%. Mainland residents, the people you actually want in your hotel, grew 5.3%. The record total is real. But a big share of the growth comes from people traveling into mainland China, not out of it.
Over a full year the picture is better. Mainland residents made 88.023 million exits in the first half of 2026, up 10.5% year on year (National Immigration Administration, July 10, 2026). We covered those numbers in our analysis of China’s H1 2026 travel data.
Airlines added little capacity, and fares went down
The Civil Aviation Administration of China forecast 31.023 million passengers over the holiday period, a daily average up 3.1% year on year. International passenger traffic was forecast up 2.9% per day, with more than 7,300 outbound international flights (The Paper, September 18, 2026). AirTravelChina (航旅纵横) reported international and regional flight bookings up about 7% year on year (Economic Information Daily, September 17, 2026).
Single-digit capacity growth with triple-digit search growth means one thing: seats to the most popular short-haul destinations sold out early, and the late planners went further, or went nowhere.
Visa policy decided the winners
South Korea’s visa-free trial for Chinese tour groups ran from September 29, 2025 to June 30, 2026; since July 1, 2026, groups need an e-visa again, with the group visa fee waived until December 31, 2026 (Korean Ministry of Justice, July 1, 2026, reported by Sina Finance). Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore all offer visa-free entry to Chinese passport holders. Our update on new visa-free destinations lists the 2026 additions. VFS Global, quoted by Airbnb, reported double-digit growth in Schengen visa applications for the holiday period.
Japan is the clear loser
Since the diplomatic tension of November 2025, Japan has lost its place. In December 2025, 904 China-Japan flights were cancelled, a 16% cancellation rate, and Qunar’s data showed South Korea replacing Japan as the most popular overseas destination by both ticket spend and searches (TravelDaily, December 8, 2025). In the 2026 Golden Week rankings from Qunar and the CAAC, Japan no longer appears in the top three. Airbnb still lists Japan in its top 10 searched countries, which tells you independent travelers have not given up on Japan, but group and airline capacity has.
Which Destinations Won Golden Week 2026, and Why
Every platform publishes its own ranking, and they do not agree, because each one sells to a different traveler. Qunar is price-driven and short-haul. Airbnb is independent and long-haul. CYTS Aoyou sells premium group tours. Reading them side by side is more useful than any single top 10.
| Platform | Traveler profile | Top destinations reported for Golden Week 2026 | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qunar | Price-sensitive, short-haul | Cities: Bangkok, Seoul, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore. Countries: Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia | Oct 1, 2026 |
| CAAC (airline data) | All flyers | Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia | Sep 18, 2026 |
| Airbnb | Independent, longer stays | Italy, South Korea, New Zealand, France, Japan, Australia, Thailand, United States, Indonesia, Spain | Sep 2026 |
| Fliggy | Alibaba users, mixed | Long-haul: Australia, New Zealand, Italy. Short-haul: South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong. Fastest growth: Slovenia, Romania, Madagascar, Chile, Kyrgyzstan | Sep 10, 2026 |
| Tuniu | Packaged tours | Indonesia, Maldives, Turkey, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Egypt | Sep 24, 2026 |
| CYTS Aoyou | Premium group tours | Europe = about 61% of outbound orders: Iceland, Norway, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, UK. Short-haul: Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali | Sep 30, 2026 |
South Korea: easier group visas and a city that speaks Chinese
Korea is the only destination in the top three of every short-haul ranking. The decision behind it started with the visa. From September 29, 2025 to June 30, 2026, Chinese tour groups of three or more booked through approved agencies could enter Korea visa-free for up to 15 days. Since July 1, 2026, those groups need an e-visa again, but Korea waives the group visa fee until December 31, 2026. The trial built the habit, and the fee waiver keeps group trips cheap.
What made it work on the ground is older. Myeongdong shops have hung Chinese welcome banners during National Day for years, and they accept Alipay and WeChat Pay. A smaller destination cannot copy the visa policy. It can copy the second part: the Chinese traveler should never feel like a guest who has to adapt. Our South Korea 2026 market note has the full numbers.
Malaysia and Singapore: sold as one trip
Both appear in Qunar’s top five cities. The interesting data point is the pairing. On National Day 2026, hotel orders for two-country and multi-country combos such as “Singapore + Malaysia” and “France + Italy” grew 1.2 times year on year, according to OTA data reported by 21st Century Business Herald (October 1, 2026). Kuala Lumpur benefits from being sold together with Singapore, at a lower price point.
The lesson for a smaller player: you do not have to win the trip alone. A hotel in Penang that partners with a Singapore operator gets onto itineraries it would never win as a standalone product. We explained the Malaysia side in our Malaysia 2026 article.
Italy: the long-haul winner, region by region
On Airbnb, searches for Italy by Chinese travelers rose to 1.5 times the 2025 level, almost double France, Europe’s second destination. Searches for Trentino-Alto Adige rose to 2.5 times (Airbnb, reported by Sohu Travel, September 29, 2026). Chinese travelers are no longer stopping at Rome, Florence and Venice. The Dolomites are a Xiaohongshu phenomenon: autumn colors, hiking, mountain huts, all very photogenic.
What a smaller European destination can take from this: Chinese demand follows images first, and infrastructure second. A region with one strong visual story and Chinese-language content on Xiaohongshu can appear on the map in a single season. What it cannot copy: Italy’s direct flight network from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.
Hong Kong: volume from day one
By 4 p.m. on October 1, 2026, 601,000 crossings had gone through Hong Kong’s border points, including more than 225,000 mainland visitors (Sing Tao Daily, October 1, 2026). Hong Kong does not need marketing to get volume. Its challenge is spend per visitor, which is where retail and hotel brands compete hard for the same day-trip crowd.
Who Travels Abroad During Golden Week, and How They Spend
The cliché of the Golden Week traveler is a young couple doing Bangkok on a budget. That traveler exists, and Qunar’s short-haul ranking is built on them. But the long-haul traveler, the one who spends real money in your hotel, looks very different.
| Indicator (CYTS Aoyou outbound customers, National Day 2026) | Value |
|---|---|
| Average age | 45.59 years |
| Share aged 56 and over | 34.94% |
| Share aged 26 to 45 | 46.31% |
| Average order value, year on year | +20.18% |
| Share choosing mid to high-end product lines | over 60% |
| Europe’s share of outbound orders | about 61% |
One in three premium long-haul customers is 56 or older. This is the 银发经济, the silver economy, and it is the most underserved Chinese traveler segment we see. These travelers have time, savings and patience for a 13-day trip. They want comfort, Chinese-language support and no surprises. They rarely appear in the influencer content brands obsess over.
Three behaviors that shaped Golden Week 2026
- Deeper, not wider. Travelers combine two or three neighboring countries instead of six capitals. Tongcheng counts an average of 2.8 countries per multi-country itinerary.
- Booking the experience, not only the room. On Fliggy, orders for overseas airport transfers grew 43% and orders for local activities abroad grew 37% year on year (21st Century Business Herald, October 1, 2026). Chinese travelers stay in hotels across more than 2,000 cities worldwide during the holiday.
- Rational spending, with exceptions. 理性消费, rational consumption, remains the mood: travelers compare prices across three apps before booking. Yet premium tour order values grew 20%. The middle is squeezed. Cheap and very good both sell.
The real booking journey
Inspiration starts on Xiaohongshu or Douyin, often months before. Comparison happens on Ctrip, Fliggy or Qunar. The booking itself goes through an OTA or a travel agency. During the trip, the traveler posts, and that content becomes the next traveler’s inspiration. After the trip, the relationship continues in WeChat, if you built one. Mafengwo reported outbound searches up 237% for the holiday period, which tells you planning content still drives demand.
What this means for a foreign brand: the Golden Week traveler decided in July and August. Your visibility in Chinese search during summer decides your October. And the most valuable traveler, older, long-haul, premium, is reached through tour operators and OTAs at least as much as through influencers.
How to Capture Chinese Golden Week Travelers: Three Levers
The next big window is Chinese New Year 2027, in February. Here is how we would prepare, in this order.
1. Social media: start with Xiaohongshu, add Douyin later
Xiaohongshu is where Chinese travelers search for a destination, the way you would use Google. A traveler types “Dolomites hiking October” in Chinese and reads notes from other travelers. Your job is to exist in those results. That means an official account with real, useful notes in Chinese, plus 10 to 30 KOCs, small creators with a few thousand followers, who visit and post honestly. KOCs cost a fraction of a big influencer and their notes keep ranking for months.
Douyin comes second. It creates impulse and works well for destinations with a strong visual moment, but conversion needs a booking path behind it. A realistic seeding budget for one destination or property starts around 8,000 to 15,000 USD per season. Our team runs this as part of our social media marketing for Chinese tourists. The detailed method is in our Xiaohongshu content strategy for tourism.
2. OTAs and travel trade: be bookable where they book
Content creates desire, but the money goes through Ctrip, Fliggy, Qunar and the tour operators. A hotel with no Chinese-language listing on Ctrip, no photos sized for mobile and no reviews in Chinese loses the comparison step, even if the traveler found it on Xiaohongshu. The mechanism: complete OTA listings in Chinese, rate parity, Chinese reviews encouraged at checkout, and for destinations, product sheets for operators who build multi-country itineraries. The CYTS data shows that premium long-haul travelers still buy packaged trips. If an operator cannot put you in a Singapore + Malaysia or France + Italy combo, you miss the most valuable traveler.
We build this for hotels and resorts through our hospitality marketing service for the Chinese market. Platform details are in our guides to Ctrip and Trip.com for hotels and to Fliggy.
3. Digital marketing: Baidu, AI search and WeChat
Older travelers, the 56-plus segment that fills premium tours, still search on Baidu and increasingly ask AI assistants like DeepSeek, Doubao, Kimi or Yuanbao “where to go in Europe in October”. These engines quote Chinese-language pages that answer clearly. A Chinese landing page with facts, prices and access information is the base of both Baidu SEO and GEO, generative engine optimization.
Then WeChat. A traveler who stayed with you in October is your cheapest customer for February, if you can reach them. An official account or a WeChat Work contact collected at checkout costs almost nothing and turns one Golden Week into repeat business. This is the core of our destination marketing for Chinese tourists.
Golden Week 2026 FAQ
When is Golden Week 2026 in China?
The National Day holiday runs from October 1 to 7, 2026. The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday ran from September 25 to 27, 2026. Many workers took leave on September 28 to 30 to create a 13-day break, from September 25 to October 7.
How many Chinese tourists travel abroad during Golden Week 2026?
China’s National Immigration Administration forecasts 2.15 million border crossings per day during National Day 2026, about 15 million over seven days. This counts all crossings in both directions, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents and foreigners. Mainland residents made 9.165 million crossings during the 8-day Golden Week of 2025.
What are the top destinations for Chinese tourists in Golden Week 2026?
By volume: Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia (CAAC and Qunar), with Bangkok, Seoul, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore as top cities. For long-haul: Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand lead on Airbnb and Fliggy, and Europe makes up about 61% of CYTS Aoyou’s outbound orders.
Sources
- National Immigration Administration (国家移民管理局), National Day and Mid-Autumn 2025 border statistics, October 9, 2025, and H1 2026 border statistics, July 10, 2026. Official crossing counts by traveler type.
- 21st Century Business Herald (21世纪经济报道), Mid-Autumn 2026: 6.709 million crossings, September 28, 2026, and National Day 2026 day-one travel data, October 1, 2026. Qunar and Fliggy outbound figures.
- CYTS Aoyou (中青旅遨游), National Day 2026 travel observation report, September 30, 2026. Age, spending and destination mix of premium outbound tours.
- Airbnb via Sohu Travel, 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day outbound search trends, September 29, 2026. Top 10 searched countries, Italy and Trentino growth, trip length.
- Also used: The Paper on CAAC holiday forecasts (September 18, 2026) and Economic Information Daily on holiday booking data (September 17, 2026).
For the week itself, read our Golden Week 2026 preview and the first-day snapshot.
Pedro Wang worked on outbound products at CITS and Ctrip, where Golden Week capacity planning started every June. He founded Chinese Tourists Agency in Shanghai and now helps hotels and destinations get onto Chinese travelers’ lists before the holiday, not after. Meet the team.
Working With Us on Chinese Holiday Peaks
Chinese Tourists Agency works with hotels, resorts, destination offices and inbound operators who want Chinese travelers in their peak calendar: Golden Week, Chinese New Year, May Day and summer. We handle Chinese content on Xiaohongshu and Douyin, OTA listings, travel trade relations with Chinese operators, and the WeChat follow-up. Our office is in Shanghai, and the team plans each holiday from inside the Chinese market.
An example from last year: a family-run boutique hotel group in Southeast Asia, three properties, almost no Chinese guests outside Chinese New Year. We started in June: a Xiaohongshu account built around the owner’s family story, 20 KOC stays over the summer, a complete Chinese listing on Ctrip, and a WeChat contact offered at checkout. Over Golden Week, Chinese guests went from a handful of rooms to about a quarter of occupancy, and a third of those guests came back through WeChat for Chinese New Year.
If you want to be ready for Chinese New Year 2027, now is the time to start. Write to us or email contact@chinesetouristagency.com.
