During the National Day Golden Week (October 1-7) this year, online consumption is showing trends towards refinement, efficiency, and intelligence. Traveling is still the main way people spend their holidays. Overall, both consumption and tourism have shown trends of reshoring from abroad to domestic market and expansion from the first- and second-tier cities to the low-tier cities.

Conspicuous consumption is increasingly popular among Chinese. Data from Tmall shows that from October 1st to 3rd, compared to the same period last year, the sales of aromatic essential oils increased by 239.64%, perfumes by 50.59%, men’s makeup by 69.91%, sunscreens by 79.30% and makeup travel sets increased by 43.49%.

On the eve of the Golden Week, the sales of medical masks for sunburn repair and moisturizing on the Tmall’s healthcare platform showed a 510% increase compared to last year.

Foods and drinks is an ever-lasting theme for holidays in China. Consumers want to eat fresh food conveniently. In the first three days of the Golden Week, the sales of steaks increased by 60%, low-temperature milk by 191.39%, instant food and instant rice by 40.69% and 54.78% respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Tmall Supermarket’s data shows that from October 1st to 3rd, the number of people participated in the flash sale of Maotai (arguably the most famous Chinese liquor) reached 3 million. The sales of liquor increased by 12 times compared to last year. The total turnover of Tmall Supermarket increased by 40% compared to last year.

Hema, the new benchmark for retail, has opened 171 stores in 22 cities across the country. In the first three days of the Golden Week, the average daily sales of Hema stores across the country increased by 22% compared to normal days. In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhou, the increase was 17.5%; and in second- and third-tier cities, the increase was close to 30%.

Many people who do not want to travel and see crowds of people have chosen to spend their time shopping and eating in Hema stores. According to data from Hema, in-store consumption in the first three days of the Golden Week increased by nearly 30%. The top ten best-selling products were all seafood. The sales of king crabs increased by 3,000%, compared to the same period last year, and over 40,000 Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs were sold.

Home living has become increasingly intelligent. From October 1st to 3rd, on Tmall, the sales of indoor fresh air systems increased by 111%, electric curtains by 168%, home security cameras by 84%, robot cleaners by 17 times and electric mops and brooms by 23 times, compared to the same period last year.

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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.

China’s domestic tourism received a total of 726 million person-trips, an increase of 9.43% year-on-year during the National Day Holiday 2018 (hereinafter referred to as Golden Week). That brought about 599.08 billion yuan (US$86.5 bn) in revenue, up by 9.04% over the previous year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Shandong topped the ranking with a tourism revenue of 53.55 billion yuan. Shaanxi was mostly visited with 70.02 million person-trips. 11 provinces saw total tourism revenues exceeding 30 billion yuan, namely, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Hunan, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Anhui, Guizhou, and Hebei.

The occupancy rate of Daishow in Xishuangbanna, Yuanna reached as high as 100% from October 2 to October 5. Over 40% of tourists went to the museum, art gallery, library, and science and technology museum. The historic attractions were popular, such as Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Beijing, Ningbo, Wuxi, Xi’an, Hangzhou, and Nanjing are hot destinations.

A total of 981 state-level scenic spots lowered ticket prices before October 1 as required by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. For example, 121 scenic spots in Yuanna, 6 5A-class scenic places of interest in Anhui, and all major scenic spots in Ningxia reduced the ticket prices at around 30%, 10%, and 20% to attract more visitors, respectively. That to some extent help boost golden week tourism.

Chinese outbound tourism insights in H1 2018

Southeast Asia received the most Chinese tourists during this year’s National Day holiday according to a recent report by WeChat.

Hong Kong returned as the most popular destination. The most remote location for check-in for Chinese tourists is in Greenland. 6.4 billion red packets were sent via WeChat during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year!

Tourism during 2017’s National Day holiday (referred to as “Golden Week” in China) was driven by families, who accounted for the largest proportion of travelers at 42%. Surveys show that many traveled with their children; such travelers made up 32% of the total and their numbers increased by more than 50% over 2016.

Another large chunk of travelers went in company with their parents (10%). Among families, the majority were what are known as “2+1” families with a single child, but the number of “2+2” families travelling over the holiday also increased by 50%. Beyond families, some other key demographics who travelled in numbers over the holiday were groups of friends (22% of all travelers) and couples (20%); individual travelers made up just 6% of the total.

Some 60% of travelers were women, who are more likely to take time off to take children or parents travelling. They were more likely to book tours, cruises, and local excursions, as well as to travel independently. Those born after 1980 and 1990 are driving an increasingly youthful travel market; travelers between 31 and 45 years old made up 33% of the total, while those between 19 and 30 accounted for 27%.

Finally, Golden Week travel highlighted several trends in the Chinese travel market, most especially a continuing shift from pre-packaged and group tours to independent travel; this year the number of travelers in tours and traveling independently was nearly evenly split (45% vs. 44%), a marked shift from years past, in which the majority of tourists traveled as part of a tour group or package, not on their own.

China online tourism market analysis 2017

The National Day holiday in China is the last holiday of the year and the longest one with 7 days starting on 1 October. China Railway is about to receive 110 million person trips during this year’s National Day holiday, an increase of 11.3% compared with 2015.

This short video, shot today (National Day) at Great Wall of China, illustrates how crowded it could be during holidays in China pic.twitter.com/4hY8Sqf84q

— China Internet Watch (@ChinaInternet) October 3, 2016

It’s peak season for the tourism industry. People travel, domestic or abroad. Among outbound travelers, the most popular destinations remain Thailand, South Korea, and Japan.

The number of person trips totaled 2.236 billion in the first half of 2016 with an increase of 10.5% YoY according to China’s National Tourism Administration. Safety, sightseeing, dining, visa, and currency are top factors when Chinese outbound travelers choose the destination.

Read more: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/18860/chinese-intl-traveler-2016/#ixzz4Ld1Uhtw8

Alipay launched Global Future Airports Program this week, aiming to provide not only payment solutions but also convenient services for travelers. From this Saturday, the National Day, the cooperating airports will be opened to Alipay users including:

• Munich Airport
• Tokyo Narita International Airport
• Singapore Changi International Airport
• Osaka Kansai International Airport
• Seoul Incheon International Airport
• Auckland International Airport
• Bangkok International Airport
• Hong Kong International Airport
• Taoyuan International Airport
• Macau International Airport

Alipay has been making efforts for overseas markets in recent years; and, as of August 2016, Alipay is available at over 80,000 retail stores outside China.

WeChat Payment is offering cash rebate (in the form of Hongbao, red envelope) if outbound travelers use WeChat Payment in cooperating oversea retail stores.

With the growing number of the middle class, China’s outbound travel spend will be near twice the amount of the U.S. ($134 billion), reaching $255.4 billion by 2025 according to a joint survey by Visa and Oxford Economics.

Continue reading: China outbound tourism market overview 2016

WeChat’s urban heat map function was formally launched on September 25. WeChat users could check real-time traffic of attractions in China and get alerts for crowded places to help with travel planning. As China is investing more in tourism, this feature could be helpful to avoid visiting crowded places during holidays.

WeChat’s urban heat map feature received record number of pageviews and unique visitors during October’s Golden Week according to WeChat.

The new service of WeChat has covered 150 famous attractions in China including West Lake, Zhouzhuang, Taishan, Zhangjiajie, Huanglong Cave and so on. Four days before the Golden Week, the number of WeChat Payment usage at those attractions was up by 25%.

Based on the Official Accounts, WeChat Payment, WeChat Shake and other functions, tourists could buy tickets online and enjoy faster entries by scanning the code without waiting in long queues.

Also read: The Value of WeChat Official Accounts

With the policy of “internet +” in China today, a large number of consumers tend to research the hotel information through online search engines, book or reserve hotels in OTA and hotel official websites, and share the experience in the social networking platforms. Chinese consumers’ demands are showed on the Internet; therefore internet data become a powerful tool to understand Chinese consumers’ needs and behaviors.

Baidu has released a report on China’s hotel industry. Luxury hotels and budget hotels account for definitely large market share, and midrange hotels only makes up 7% of the total market. High-end hotels keep a fierce growth momentum and competition; the budget hotel market is eventually shared by several chain hotels. Midrange hotels only possess 7% of the market, and are less influenced by the season.

Resort hotels and premium luxury hotels are top 2 most searched high-end hotels. Basing on consumers’ major search words, high-end hotels pioneer in localized services, such as wedding feast, honeymoon tour, fitness and so on to enlarge marketing and maintain high growth.

Facility, location, price, service and catering are major focal spots of Chinese consumers. They always lay emphasis on facility and location when planning to live in budget hotels, attach importance to service and catering in luxury hotels, and price in midrange hotels. Different from the traditional three-star or four-star hotels, midrange hotels grow out of local budget hotels and usually are part of hotel chains. Prices are mostly set between 300 yuan to 500 yuan per night. To improve sales, midrange hotels need to broaden business items and foster brand loyalty.

Low price, convenience and good service are powerful merits for budget hotels to attract consumers. The search volume of budget hotels fell slightly, but comments and reviews increased. Cheap hotels should enhance public fame and publicity. Major budget hotels in China are Jinjiang Inn, 7 Days Inn, Home Inn, Huazhu Hotels and so on.

Since 2012, China had been the largest outbound tourism market in the world. With the rising living status, more and more Chinese would like to pay a visits in famous scenic spots. Many tourists prefer to book air tickets and hotels together in advance. For example, according to a report by the Chinese online tourism website (tao.117go.com), as high as 61% of Chinese tourists have ordered air tickets and hotels in advance for the tour in Chinese National Day. In the future, online hotel booking will become the major booking method, and it is expected to make a large step forward.

Also read: China the Largest Inbound Tourism Market for Japan H1 2015

According to a report by the Chinese online tourism website (tao.117go.com), as high as 61% of Chinese tourists have ordered air tickets and hotels in advance for over 10 days tour, by combining Mid-autumn Festival and Chinese National Day holiday together.

This year, only three-day working days will remain after Mid-Autumn Festival, followed by Chinese National Day. Many people applied for several days off to enjoy a long holiday. Then, Oversea travel destinations become their top choices.

Among free and easy trip travelers, the top 10 are Tokyo, Taipei, Osaka, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Kenting. It is worth mentioning that Los Angeles is becoming a hot new destination for Chinese tourists going on free and easy trips, and it is the only destination out of the Asia Pacific region. Besides, South Korea has gained a strong recovery and returned to the list.

Free and easy tour travelers are more inclined to focus on leisure and relaxation compared with the traditional travelers traveling in groups. 90% purchase are for entertainment.

And compared with summer holiday, the ratio of office workers traveling during the National Day is increasing that recreational features become more significant. The tickets order of hottest attraction during the summer holiday has decreased from 38% to 28% this October. In the mean time, orders of recreational goods and transportation card tickets account for respectively 5 percentage points and 3 percentage points increase.

Family tourism is a prominent feature of Chinese free tour travelers. More than 74% of orders came from families with three or more members. And it is also timely to promote the development of outbound chartered vehicle business; such orders have increased by more than 100% compared with the same period last year.

Also read: China to invest $278.7 Billion in Tourism in 2025

Estimated by China Tourism Academy, China would accept 3.76 billion person trips in 2014 with total revenue of RMB3.3 trillion (US$0.53 trillion). With the overwhelming development of mobile internet as well as improvement of social media, scenic attraction social media accounts will have more influence. On Weibo, there are already large number of travelers interacting with travel related Weibo accounts.

Among all the travel related accounts on Weibo in 2014, city tourism boards accounted for 46%, which were the major ones on Weibo, followed by scenic attraction accounts and travel organizations in 2014.

From the three charts above, province tourism boards and overseas tourism boards accounts both had activeness, coverage, popularity and impact index higher than the average number in the industry in 2014 which indicated they performed well enough on Weibo.

In terms of impact index from 2011 to 2014, the overall impact index of travel institution accounts increased from 106 to 134. Various travel institutions paid more attention to efforts on Weibo and their fans on Weibo accounts increased continuously in 2014.

During the festivals like Tomb-sweeping Festival, Labour Day and Dragon Boat Festival, there were most daily Weibo posts in 2014. While during Spring Festival, Tomb-sweeping Festival and National Day, there were more daily searches than usual days in 2014.

Top Provinces by Visits During Spring Festival in 2014

Top Provinces by Visits During Labor Day in 2014

Top Provinces by Visits During National Day in 2014

Here were the top scenic attractions in China during major festivals in 2014.

Take the Liuzhou tourism board account on Weibo as an example, since it updated Weibo homepage as well as service on 22 July 2014, its official account on Weibo had increasing fans. In August, Liuzhou tourism board account’s daily fans increased by 88.6% from June 2014. Besides, its impact index got higher than before.

According to Baidu, during the period from July to August in 2014, which was the summer holiday in China, the daily travel search index on mobile device was more than the one on desktop computers. Besides, in July 2014, the index on mobile device had an increase of 50% from the same period of last year.

Also read: Insights of China Video Sharing on Weibo