Golden Week 2025: What Outbound Travel Reveals About Chinese Consumer Behaviour

How the “Super Golden Week” is reshaping outbound travel and experience consumption for 2026.

A record-breaking “Super Golden Week”

In 2025, China’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival overlapped, creating an unprecedented eight-day “Super Golden Week”. More than just a holiday, it became a barometer of how Chinese consumer behaviour is evolving in travel and lifestyle spending.

With many office workers choosing to extend their holiday through “请3休12” (take 3 days off to rest 12), travel demand stretched from 27 September to 12 October, turning what used to be a one-week break into a two-week travel window.

According to the National Immigration Administration, China’s border inspection authorities handled 16.34 million inbound and outbound passengers during the holiday, a year-on-year growth of 11.5% and already surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Of these, mainland residents accounted for 9.17 million crossings, up 9.6% from last year. The single-day peak came on 4 October, with 2.35 million border movements.

Younger travellers, particularly students and Gen Z, emerged as the new driving force of outbound travel. At the same time, China’s expanded 240-hour visa-free transit policy, effective 12 June 2025, broadened eligibility to 55 countries, greatly facilitating both inbound and outbound flows. This policy encouraged travellers to combine “one-country deep travel” with “multi-country linked journeys”, maximising convenience while enriching travel experiences.

From sightseeing to emotional experience

Golden Week 2025 also reflected a shift from “to see” to “to experience.” Travellers increasingly sought emotional connection, immersive participation, and personal fulfilment, a trend echoed by the rise of “emotion value,” “time efficiency,” and “value for money” as the three main purchase drivers.

Short-haul and long-haul trips evolved differently. Short trips became more frequent and spontaneous, while longer journeys focused on higher-quality experiences. Spending patterns moved away from shopping-only tourism toward cultural, natural, and lifestyle experiences, highlighting the rise of an experience economy in travel.

Destination trends: Decentralisation, slow travel, and shareable beauty

Three major trends defined Chinese outbound travel this Golden Week:

1. Niche awakening: Destination decentralisation

Japan remained the top outbound choice, but new cities like Fukuoka (+300%) and the Izu Peninsula (+200%) surged in popularity, showing a clear move away from overcrowded hubs.

2. “Slow sea recharge”: Deep experiences as the new luxury

Travellers favoured slower, restorative trips that blend nature and leisure. Okinawa (+200%) leveraged its “near and beautiful” appeal; Phu Quoc (Vietnam) soared +700% under the visa-free wave; Spain’s Mallorca (+400%) and France’s Calvados (+3,000%) captured attention with scenic and cultural immersion.

3. Seeing and being seen: The rise of “出片率” (shareability)

Social media has turned travel into both an experience and a stage. Gen Z now chooses destinations that promise cinematic beauty, from the Amalfi Coast (+100%) to Prague (+300%), Lake Como (+300%), and Queenstown (New Zealand). Travel isn’t just about seeing the world anymore; it’s also about being seen in it.

Market snapshot: short-haul dominance and regional highlights

Golden Week 2025 reinforced the strength of Asia-Pacific short-haul travel, driven by flexible visa arrangements, increased air capacity, and youth-led spontaneity.

Short-haul wins: Southeast Asia destinations, including Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, led demand.

Top outbound countries included: Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, New Zealand, Turkey, and Australia, a mix of nearby cultural hubs and long-haul adventure destinations.

Hotel bookings in these markets doubled year-on-year, reflecting growing confidence and a demand for elevated yet accessible travel. Meanwhile, air travel capacity and pricing both shifted upward. Chinese airlines reported +3% domestic and +12% international passenger growth, with overall international capacity (including foreign carriers) up 9%, reaching 88% of 2019 levels. Short- and medium-haul routes performed best, while international airfares climbed in the high single digits.

Regional insights:

• Hong Kong and Macau: Hong Kong welcomed 1.6 million inbound tourists (+19%), 85% of them from the mainland. Visitor spending shifted toward experiences, with restaurants and hotels up 5–10%, while apparel sales fell. In Macau, daily arrivals averaged 143 thousand (+3–5%) and gross gaming revenue reached MOP 1.12 billion per day, aligning with expectations and signalling stable mass-market strength.

• Hainan handled 1.1 million passengers across Haikou Meilan and Sanya airports (+6% YoY), underscoring its role as a domestic free-trade and duty-free hub.

  
  

Understanding Who’s Travelling and What They Want

Golden Week 2025 showcased the growing diversity of China’s outbound market, where each traveller segment brings different motivations, digital habits, and expectations:

• Gen Z: Socially Driven, Digitally Native, and Experience-Focused

Gen Z now dominates China’s outbound travel scene, making up 62% of travellers and 46% of flight bookings. This generation thrives on social sharing and digital experiences; they love documenting trips through short videos and social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, turning every journey into a story worth telling.Their focus has shifted from traditional sightseeing to emotional fulfilment (“情绪价值”) and immersive experiences (“体验价值”). With 74.6% willing to pay for personalisation, Gen Z is driving the evolution from “check-in tourism” to “immersive, expressive travel.”

• Silver Travellers: Culture and Comfort Over Cost

The silver generation values comfort, cultural depth, and authenticity, showing lower price sensitivity. They prefer slower, quality-driven trips that blend learning, wellness, and relaxation, a perfect fit for premium, experience-rich products.

• Family Travellers: Learning and Bonding Through Travel

For families, travel is both education and connection. Parents are increasingly willing to invest in interactive, child-focused experiences that combine fun with learning, making travel a meaningful part of family growth.

• Beyond Tier-1 Cities: Long-Haul Deepening, Short-Haul Upgrading

Outbound travel now reflects “长线深化、短线提质” long-haul deepening and short-haul upgrading. Travellers from non-Tier-1 cities are emerging as a powerful new segment, with long-haul orders rising over 140% YoY. Short-haul Asian trips are becoming more frequent and refined, while long-haul journeys emphasise quality, uniqueness, and ease.

Strategic takeaways for brands and travel retailers

1. Sell experiences, not itineraries – Travellers value emotion and time efficiency more than price. Position products as part of an experience, not just a purchase.

2. Optimise for shareability – Design photogenic store corners, pop-ups, and airport lounges. “出片率” (share rate) is the new conversion metric.

3. Personalise by default – With three-quarters of Gen Z willing to pay for customisation, brands must offer micro-itineraries, tiered services, and exclusive touchpoints.

4. Streamline cross-border convenience – Accept Alipay and WeChat Pay, localise signage, and create Chinese-language content for airport or downtown retail.

5. Leverage the 240-hour visa-free moment – Promote “48h city stopovers” and multi-country bundles that encourage spontaneous spending.

6. Rebalance Hong Kong and Macau strategies – Shift from shopping discounts to experiential offers and mass-market entertainment.

7. Invest in Hainan’s flywheel – Link duty-free retail with wellness tourism, eco-experiences, and airport pre-order programmes.

Looking ahead to 2026

The trends from Golden Week 2025 set a clear course for the future of Chinese travel:

• Short-haul remains dominant – Japan and Southeast Asia will continue to lead as students and young professionals favour flexible, affordable getaways.

• Long-haul goes premium – Travellers will seek quality over quantity, with personalised and time-saving services as key differentiators.

• Experience inflation > price inflation – Consumers will pay more for unique moments and zero-friction journeys.

• Personalisation becomes baseline – Dynamic bundling and interest-driven offers will replace generic packages.

• Silver travel and non-Tier-1 growth – Expect comfort-focused elderly travel and rising demand from smaller cities to expand the market frontier.

• Retail becomes a stage – Travel retail will evolve from “shop” to “show”, with storytelling, local collabs, and immersive displays at its core.

Golden Week 2025 wasn’t just a travel boom; it was a cultural reset. China’s outbound tourism has fully recovered, driven by younger, digitally savvy, experience-hungry travellers. As they trade shopping bags for stories and souvenirs for memories, brands must evolve from selling products to curating emotions.

In 2026, the winning strategy for travel brands and retailers will rest on three pillars: emotion, efficiency, and expression. Design for how travellers want to feel, save their time, and help them be seen, and your brand will travel with them wherever they go. Reach out to our team to understand how your brand can tailor strategies, content, and partnerships for China’s growing outbound traveller segment, and stay ahead in the growing outbound travel economy.