China’s Golden Week: What 888 Million Trips Reveal About the Future of Consumption and Global Travel
- Alice
- Oct 10
- 4 min read
Published October 10, 2025
We are pleased to share key insights from our CEO, Mr. Subramania Bhatt, who recently joined the global news programme, World Today, for a discussion on China’s booming holiday economy. The show, which offers daily news and analysis, focused on the impressive figures generated during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays.
With a total of 888 million trips made during the 8-day break, driving domestic tourism revenue to over 800 billion yuan (approximately $113 billion), the discussion centred on how technology, culture, and policy are converging to boost tourism and consumer spending, providing a key indicator of domestic demand and public confidence in the economy.
Here is an extract of Mr. Bhatt’s analysis on China’s structural growth, the rise of "Culture Tech," and the global implications of the spending surge.
The Unprecedented Scale and Super Coordination of Domestic Travel
Mr. Bhatt noted that the scale of travel—888 million trips in eight days—is "mindboggling" and a feat only one country can pull off. This is not merely a post-COVID "blip"; tourism is now a structural growth engine, central to the country's growth.
Key takeaways regarding the scale and system capability include:
Consumer Confidence: The figures signal a clear sign of confidence that mainland consumers are spending more, even if per capita spending remains prudent.
System Capability: The ability of the system to move so many people at such speed is "very admirable".
Rail Backbone: China’s high-speed rail infrastructure absorbs peak load, highlighted by rail setting an all-time single-day record of more than 23 million trips on the holiday’s first day. This backbone is expected to extend to more than 50,000 kilometres, further easing flexible travel.
Super Coordination: Viewing the situation through a "Singapore lens," the primary headline is "super coordination"—a huge latent travel demand matched by a transport grid that can scale on demand. Tourism is currently acting as a stabilizer.
The Rise of "Culture Tech" and Digital Engagement
Technology is playing a critical role in shaping new cultural tourism experiences and absolutely adds to the entire tourism experience, helping to drive consumer loyalty and spending.
Platform Utility: Platforms have tremendous reach; A-map is used by almost 360 million people every day. Furthermore, a startup like Golden Go pushed more than 1 billion yuan of "travel adjacent" transactions (including discovery, footfall, and transactions) through a single app.
Enhancing Loyalty: Guided navigations, spectacles, and booking membership lead to more repeat customers, which is superior to "one and done sightseeing".
New Destinations: A-map observed that non-travellers are increasingly gravitating toward local or rural cultural flavours and the local life found in tier four and tier five cities.
Product Market Fit: The combination of culture plus tech—referred to as "culture tech"—is identified as a new product market fit for Chinese domestic tourism.
Brands are keenly aware of this trend, especially where movies turn locations into hotspots. Brands in these famous towns are "certainly capitalizing on the hype" by bringing in additional souvenirs and memorable. This activity supports tech-enabled tourism and aims for all-year-round consumption, moving beyond reliance on just three or four major holidays.
China: The Single Biggest Global Demand Shock
The Golden Week holiday has significant implications beyond China’s borders, as China is deemed the "single biggest demand shock for global travel" in the fourth quarter and during other major holidays.
China Trading Desk had previously predicted 8 to 8.4 million outbound trips based on extensive surveys (over 15,000 people per quarter), a forecast that aligned well with the reported 16 million cross-border visitors.
Global Response: Airlines and visa carriers have responded by adding international flight frequency around this window, and visa usage has increased.
Travel Patterns: Travel has concentrated heavily in short-haul Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Long-haul travel has also spiked, focusing on nature and exotic locations, with Central Asia and Eastern Europe emerging as new regions of interest.
Changing Consumption Dynamics:
Seasonal Uplift: Destinations like Sydney are utilizing China as a growth engine as their spring begins, smoothing seasonality for hotels and luxury services.
Digital Conversion: Digital payments are converting seamlessly overseas, with Union Pay companies and Alipay+ acceptance by merchants. This acceptance is extending to places like Singapore grocery stores (using MPs), helping Chinese families and students better integrate.
Experience First: Consumption is shifting towards experience first. Surveys show that history, culture, nature, architecture, and local food form the bulk of travellers' purpose, leading them to spend more on experiences rather than physical goods.
Net Effect: These dynamics result in longer stays and higher spending on tours and food and beverage (F&B).
For global destinations looking to capitalize on this surge, Mr. Bhatt recommends updating China-facing payments and services and pushing offers/content via platforms like WeChat. Furthermore, destinations should consider increasing their nighttime economy, which is highly developed in China, to boost Chinese spending globally.
Key Future Drivers: Force Multipliers for the Economy
Looking ahead, Mr. Bhatt identified three sectors that are set to act as a force multiplier for China’s economy in the coming years:
Transport and Mobility: Capacity is being maintained ahead of peak demand, with high-speed rail set to clear almost 50,000 kilometres by 2025. EV road tripping is exploding, supported by over 50% year-on-year growth in charging stations and near-free highway charging during the holiday. Platforms like A-map, utilizing AR routing to stitch the journey together, have seen "tremendous success".
Culture, Attraction, and Nighttime Economy: The expectation is for more immersive, tech-driven, late-night venues and year-round shows. Sports Tourism is anticipated to be a significant driver, supported by policy aiming for 3 trillion yuan to be spent by the industry by 2025 and the creation of over 100 high-quality outdoor destinations for activities like marathon cycling and water sports.
Local Service and F&B: These sectors, powered by platforms like A-maps and Meituan, will ensure that services are available to travellers "all the time".
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