Domestic tourism revenue was RMB 26.517 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.0% and a comparable recovery of 35.1% compared to the same period in the 2019 New Year’s Day holiday.

“Cold escape” is still the first choice for Chinese travelers. Traveling to warmer climes is a favorite. Southern China’s mild winter weather attracts many tourists at home and abroad to escape from the cold. Tourism in rural areas of Guangdong cities such as Meizhou, Qingyuan, and Shantou was a particular bright spot.

According to Alibaba’s OTA platform Fliggy, the amount of tourism bookings in Hainan destinations increased by more than 50% compared with 2022.

At the same time, during New Year’s Day, the number of tourist merchandise bookings, including keywords such as “seascape”, “island”, and “surfing” increased by more than 60% year on year.

The orders for cross-provincial and trans-city tours accounted for nearly 80%, reaching the peak in nearly a year. More than 70% of the post-90s and post-00s young users became the main force during this holiday.

As Alipay accelerates its footprint across the globe, Chinese consumers’ overseas spending through the app continues to increase during China’s National Day Golden Week period, compared to the same period last year. Global in-store transaction volume this year grew by 10% YoY. The average total spends per user increased by 15% to about RMB 2,500 (about US$350).

China’s domestic attractions saw about 782 million visits during the National Day holiday, up 7.8% year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Tourists’ spending during the holiday reached nearly 650 billion yuan ($91 billion), an increase of 8.47% from the previous year.

Top 10 Golden Week destinations by Alipay transaction volume

Japan topped the list of top 10 Golden Week destinations by Alipay transaction volume for the first time, with Thailand ranked #2. Cambodia and the Philippines joined the top 10 list for the first time, with large numbers of merchants now accepting Alipay in these two destinations.

Emerging destinations in Chinese Golden Week 2019

Emerging destinations saw some of the fastest growth in Alipay use compared to the previous year, the Philippines experienced 26 times the volume of transactions this year than in 2018, thanks to the mass rollout of Alipay to local merchants over the last 12 months.

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During Chinese National Day holiday, a.k.a. Golden Week in China, cultural and tourism consumption is more popular this year than in previous years. According to the data from Alibaba’s OTA Fliggy, the number of people who have booked domestic tours on National Day Fliggy increased by 42% year-on-year, and the growth rate exceeded the outbound travel.

China’s National Day holidays are public holidays and last one week from 1 Oct to 7 Oct.

With the National Day holiday approaching, the searching volume of OTA Tuniu’s National Day holiday travel products is soaring while the sales of the outbound and domestic tour products are rocketing, accounting for 57% and 31% of total bookings respectively.

Some travelers have made reservations for outbound tours four months in advance.

Compared with the period before the holiday, the prices of tour products during the National Day holiday have all increased.

Among them, domestic tour products rise by an average of about 35% and quick getaway tour products rose by 10%-15%; the prices of outbound short-distance tour products generally increase by about 30% while the price increase for outbound long-distance tour products is slightly lower than that of short-term tour products, at about 10%.

Different from previous years, the trend of off-peak travel around the National Day holidays this year is not obvious. One reason is that the previous holiday “Mid-Autumn Festival” is 12 days apart, making it difficult to utilize by the travelers were used to taking advantage.

In 2018, there were only 6 working days between the 2018 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and the National Day holiday, which can adjust and piece together the longest holiday in the history of “Mid-Autumn Festival + National Day” – 16 days. However, the 12 working days between the two festivals this year made people give up adjustment or switch to adjust the latter part of the holiday.

On the other hand, with the increasing awareness of traveling in off-peak periods, the line between high seasons and off-seasons is blurring. It is expected that the number of people traveling during the National Day holiday will increase sharply from about September 30 and reach the peak on October 1.

Tuniu’s data for tourism products reservation during the National Day holiday shows that long-distance and in-depth tour products are the most popular ones. Over 40% of users will travel for 5-6 days while nearly 20% have selected itineraries of 7 days or longer.

Diverse travel modes such as group tour, free & easy tours, partially guided tour, customized tour, self-driving tour, local fun tour, car rental, and others will be favored by a large number of tourists during the National Day holiday.

Login or subscribe to read the full National Day Tourism insights including top travelers origins, top destinations, popular outbound activities and destinations, and trending tourism themes in China. 

71 brands exceeded 100 million yuan (US$14.37 million) in GMV in the pre-sale period of Double 11. Among that, 15 brands came from Tmall apparel, i.e. Nike, Adidas, Puma, Lining, Converse, Anta, Fila, Skechers, New Balance, Underarmour, Uniqlo, Eifini, Only, Vero Moda, and Bosideng. The same figure was only 40 in last year’s Double 11. 

14 brands were from consumer electronics, namely, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, Honor, Haier, Midea, Siemens, Gree, Aux, Hisense, Fotile, Dyson, and Ecovcs.

The story of a Taobao celebrity who sold 300 million yuan products on Double 11

Three brands are from autos, namely, SAIC Volkswagen, Buike, and Lincoln.

17 brands came from makeups, personal care, and maternal & child, namely, Lancome, Estée Lauder, Olay, SK-II, L’Oreal, Pechoin, HomeFacialPro, Innisfree, Elizabeth Arden, Shiseido,  La Mer, Ya-Man, Whoo, Ssulwhasoo, MAC, P&G, and Purcotton.

20 brands were from home decoration, for instance, Linshimuye, KUKA, QUANU, CHEERS, Nabel, Sophia, tata, Shangpin Home Collection, and OPPEIN.

YA-MAN and MOONY were the only two brands in Tmall Global saw GMV hit 100 million yuan in pre-sale.

Consumer electronics: Apple, Huawei, and Haier all in the “100 million yuan club” On November 1st, total pre-sale GMV of Tmall consumer electronics increased by roughly 6 times year-on-year, which remained to be the top platform for smartphone and home appliances.

To be specific, GMV increased by 15 times for smartphones, 10 times for digital 3C, and 4 times for large home appliances.

Notably, Xiaomi’s flagship smartphone MIX3 was sold out at the moment the sale started, Honor’s Magic2 was sold out in the first 5 minutes, and nearly 10 thousand vivoZ3 sold out in 10 minutes.

16 thousand pieces of Haier 10KG tumbling-box washing machine sold out in two days. 20 thousand Dyson supersonic hairdryer and over 50 thousand vacuum cleaner were pre-sold accumulatively.

Apple, Huawei, Haier, Xiaomi, Midea, Siemens, GREE, Dyson, and ECOVACS had already marched to the “100 million yuan club” as of November 2nd. Among them, sales of hot items like iPhone X, iPhone XS Max, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Apple iPad 128G, and Apple iPad 32G all exceeded 100 million yuan.

How the biggest shopping festival affects China e-commerce apps users growth, engagement, and loyalty

Top pre-sale brands as of November 2nd

Top smartphone brands were Apple, Xiaomi, Vivo, Huawei, honor, Oppo, Meizu, Samsung, Nokia, and Meitu.

Top home appliances brands were Midea, Supor, Joyoung, Ecovacs, Philips, Roborock, A. O. Smith, Flyco, Bear, and Haier.

Among them, hot items were Xiaomi Mijia Vacuum Robot Cleaner, Roborock S51 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Roborock S50 Smart Vacuum Robot Cleaner, Midea WH2202S induction cooker, A. O. Smith NL1200D Water Purifier, ECOVACS Cleaning Robots, Midea Simple301 electric cooker, ECOVACS Deebot  DT85G Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Midea Simple 101 electric pressure cooker, and OGAWA OG7508S massage sofa.

Tmall Double 11 has become the best timing for launching new consumer electronics products. iPhone XR, Huawei Mate 20 series, Xiaomi MIX3, honor Magic, Dyson Airwrap, and Beats Solo3 Mitch Limited Edition were all in a hurry to catch up with Tmall Double 11.

Apparel: sales of down jacket increased by 90%

It seems that consumers wanted to take advantage of Double 11 to buy everything they might need for a year round.

Over 60 thousand Newbalance565 and 50 thousand MiiOW long underwear suits for couples were pre-sold. Though the snow season had yet to come, 80 thousand snow boots were pre-sold. The sales of down jacket increased by 90%.

The youngest who is in pursuit of street fashion showed extraordinary consumption power. The sales of Edison Chen founded Clot grew by around 60% year-on-year; sales of celebrities Jerry Lee and Wilber Pan co-founded NPC increased by 55% year-on-year; sales of Aape that was under the brand of HK I.T group rose by 45% year-on-year.

Luxury or affordable luxury products were hot. Sales of fur were almost doubled compared with last year’s.  Limited-edition scarves by Burberry were sold out on the first day of pre-sale.

Cosmetics and toiletries: 50 thousand Philips electric toothbrush sold out

Pre-sale GMV of Lancome, olay, Estée Lauder, SK-II, L’Oréal, Sulwhasoo, Elizabeth Arden, and Procter & Gamble were all hit 100 million yuan.

Beauty apparatus generated double sales compared with the previous year. An eyeshadow that was co-branded by domestic brand Perfect Diary and the British Museum sold out at a fast speed of one in every 11.5 seconds. 100 thousand HomeFacialPro’s Hyaluronic Acid Stock Solution – last year’s most trending brand- were sold out.

140 thousand OLAY White Radiance Light Perfecting Essence 50ml sold out in just 4 days of the pre-sale period. Around 20 thousand Givenchy Le Rouge were sold in less than five days. MAC sold over 500 thousand lipsticks in the pre-sale period.

Philips sold 50 thousand electric toothbrushes in the first one minute. Crest sold 6 thousand and 80 thousand 3D White toothpaste in the first one minute and ten days, respectively. Lancome sold 10 thousand Tonique Confort in every minute.

Food & Beverage: sales of 1919 increased by ten times

Pre-sales of KFC increased by 70.4% year-on-year, 5 thousand KFC and Tmall co-branded card were sold out at the moment it launched.  1 million KFC Original Recipe were sold. Three Squirrels new product Trembling Noodle were sold 10 thousand buckets.

1919.cn, an online wine, and spirits shop that has recently received 2 billion yuan investment from Alibaba saw sales of its Tmall flagship store grew by 1,000% year-on-year.

Roughly 80 thousand cars were booked

Autos saw record sales in the pre-sale period. 90 Land Rover at a fixed price of 265.9 thousand yuan was sold out. Buick sold 7,000 cars in a week, over 1,000 consumers in rural areas placed orders through rural Taobao partners. Over 600 high-end Lincoln was booked in 5 days with 300 thousand new customers following its Tmall flagship store.

Users booked a total of 80 thousand cars on Tmall, equal to the entire years’ sales of 30 4S shops.

Alibaba Health: medical beauty services increased by 533% as of October 30th

Online celebrities played a role in the big sales of traditional tonic. The Internet celebrity Li Ziqi’s shop sold 13 thousand jars of Changbaishan honey. For the dietary supplement, BY-HEALTH sold 22 thousand cans of collagen powder, which was bundled with celebrity Cai Xukun-tailored gift.

Inspired by Chinese famous chili sauce Lao Gan Ma’  hoodies that were sold at the New York Fashion Show, several mind-blowing cooperation had sprung up in health care. For example, Durex and Cat’s Kitchen sold 8,000 items of their co-branded popping candy and ultra-thin condom gift box. TongDaoDaShu, a prominent social media influencer, and Omron sold 9 thousand pieces of their co-branded low-frequency massage device.

Fliggy: five-star hotels and business class tickets were the most popular

High-end hotels like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and InterContinental sold 35o thousand night rooms. Airlines also sold 7.5 thousand business class tickets through Fliggy.

Over 200 thousand consumers paid attention to travel products about Hong Kong. Sales of Lao’s hot tourist route was increased by 4 times year-on-year. 16 thousand visas of top destinations Japan, Philippines, and Thailands were booked.

Marriott launched several hundred Double 11-tailored products. Its limited edition pass card for celebrating the coming new year was sold out in two days.

Several online travel agencies united with Tmall Double 11 to release more membership profits like shared membership system and exclusive discounts. For example, Singapore Airlines had shared its membership system with Fliggy on October 28th; the stock was running out in just half an hour after it opened the registration system.

With 180 thousand brands participating this year, which was only 27 brands in the first year of 2009, Tmall Double 11 had become the commercial Olympic for global brands, to a certain extent.

Find out Tmall Double 11 highlights or Double 11 statistics of top retailers & top 50 Tmall stores in 2018

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Alibaba Group this week announced a comprehensive strategic collaboration aimed at enhancing the customer experience for travelers. The collaboration encompasses several players in Alibaba Group’s ecosystem including Fliggy, Alibaba Cloud, Alipay and Cainiao Network.

The partnership extends across areas such as flight ticket sales, loyalty programs, marketing initiatives, cloud services, payments and logistics. SIA and Alibaba Group will gain actionable customer insights for the benefit of travelers in one of the world’s fastest growing travel markets.

The tie-up represents a significant extension of a partnership between SIA and Alibaba Group’s affiliate, Alipay, which was introduced as a payment option on SIA’s website in 2013. In 2016, an official SIA flagship store was also launched on what was then known as Alitrip (later rebranded “Fliggy”), Alibaba’s travel service platform, for direct purchase of SIA flight tickets by consumers in China.

Related: Insights of Starbucks and Alibaba’s strategic partnership

KrisFlyer and Fliggy will introduce two-way points conversion, allowing members to enjoy membership perks from both loyalty programs. KrisFlyer members will be able to convert their KrisFlyer miles to Fliggy points, and Fliggy members will be able to convert their Fliggy points to KrisFlyer miles. SIA and Fliggy also intend to explore further opportunities to sync their respective loyalty programs and to drive cross-promotion of membership services.

In addition, eligible Fliggy members at certain loyalty program tiers will be able to earn KrisFlyer Elite Silver or Gold status. Accompanying privileges could include tier bonuses on actual miles flown, priority reservation waitlist, seat selection privileges and priority baggage handling. Fliggy members who achieve KrisFlyer Elite Gold status can also receive benefits from the entire Star Alliance network, the world’s largest airline alliance.

The collaboration is also expected to cover the following areas:

• SIA and Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform operated by Ant Financial, will work on extending Alipay acceptance beyond flight purchases to also cover in-flight products and services, airport services, retail merchandise and ancillary touchpoints.
• Together with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, SIA will explore how its IT ecosystem – from web hosting to apps and membership systems – can benefit from Alibaba Cloud’s global network.
• SIA will work closely with Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, to enhance international air cargo services, joining Cainiao Network’s broader efforts in building a global smart logistics network that delivers across China within 24 hours and globally within 72 hours.

China online travel market insights Q1 2018, led by Ctrip, Qunar, and Fliggy