Chinese Travelers Choose Skydiving and Safaris Over Handbags

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By K Oanh Ha

Published May 7, 2025

In the 1990s, as Beijing loosened Mao-era restrictions on travel, millions of Chinese left the country for the first time, triggering a rush by companies offering group trips where these new travelers could move smoothly from charter flight to private bus to all-inclusive hotel. For decades, Chinese vacationers could be seen following umbrella-wielding guides around Kyoto, Paris or Venice—including frequent stops at shops offering everything from Eiffel Tower trinkets to $10,000 Birkin handbags.

Today more Chinese holiday makers are shifting to individual travel, with a strong emphasis on adventure and experience. Social media buzzes with photos and videos of mainlanders going on safari in Tanzania, swimming among ice floes in Japan and sampling street food in India. “Luxury bags lose value,” says Vinsa Hu, a 37-year-old modeling agent who once splurged on shopping trips abroad but on a recent visit to New Zealand went hiking, rabbit hunting and deep-sea fishing. “I feel like I need to enjoy life.”

While a craving for experience-oriented vacations isn’t unique to the Chinese, the mainland is the world’s largest outbound travel market, and the changing preferences are having a ripple effect throughout the industry. Last year, Chinese travelers spent 1.6 trillion yuan ($221 billion) on 146 million trips abroad, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council and government data, and this year they’re on track to exceed the records set in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Xiaohongshu—the TikTok clone that recently drew millions of Americans who feared the popular video-sharing app would be banned—has become an indispensable inspiration for holiday ideas. Many posts feature near-professional photos and videos of trip highlights, alongside detailed tips that inspire others to copy. One cyclist has documented his journeys around the globe, while other adventurers have posted videos of wild, Dune-like rides atop iron ore trains through the Sahara in Mauritania.

With Chinese vacationers shelling out serious cash in search of hard-to-replicate experiences, hoteliers and agencies are tailoring their offerings to their evolving demands. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is rolling out a program that includes Mandarin-speaking clerks, Chinese breakfast options such as congee and noodles, and the ability to settle up via China’s UnionPay system. “We want them to feel at home,” says Alexandra Murray, Hilton’s head of Southeast Asia operations.

Klook, a Hong Kong company that books tours worldwide, says a survey of Chinese travelers found that 70% allocate at least a third of their budget to experiences. To serve them, the company has added offerings such as desert camping in Dubai, samurai swordsmanship workshops in Tokyo and mosaic lamp crafting with Taipei artisans. “More Chinese are looking for what is unique, what is different,” says Subramania Bhatt, chief executive officer of market researcher China Trading Desk. “It’s a very profound shift.”

Trip.com, China’s largest online travel agency, says it’s seen increased demand for vacations at national parks and family-themed attractions. Fliggy, another big Chinese booking site, says more than half of its clients now create their own itineraries, and with more people opting to skip the tour bus, overseas car rentals jumped sevenfold last year from 2023.

In Vietnam, “zero-dong” tours aimed at Chinese visitors–excursions that are free or low-cost for patrons who consent to lengthy stops at souvenir shops–have largely disappeared. A guide in Iceland says busloads of Chinese are increasingly rare, with younger travelers now hiring cars and mapping out their trips to soak in hot springs or gaze at the northern lights. New Zealand tour operator Pan Pacific Travel says groups of 20 or more accounted for 85% of Chinese business a few years ago, but now it’s less than 15%. These new travelers—mostly smaller groups of close friends or family members—“prefer more relaxing itineraries,” says Helen Dai, who heads the company’s business from China. “Before, they got up early every day, took a day trip to place A, then hopped on a bus to drive to place B and arrived very late.”

In Indonesia, Eru Mamak saw business from the mainland spike in the past year after Chinese travelers posted videos on Xiaohongshu showing excursions in the jungle off the coast of West Sumatra. For years, Europeans made up the bulk of guests on trips offering immersion in the daily lives of the seminomadic Mentawi tribe. Soon, visitors from China will seize that crown, and Mamak is taking Mandarin classes to better serve them. “Chinese travelers want to avoid travelling in clichéd ways,” he says. “This will become the new way.”