Chinese travellers venturing further abroad, embracing multi-stop trips

SINGAPORE: As China’s domestic destinations grow more crowded and costly, Chinese holidaymakers are looking overseas instead – and many are willing to travel further and pack multiple stops in one trip.

For Shenzhen resident Wu Ting, that meant squeezing Hong Kong, Bali and Singapore into an eight-day Golden Week getaway. 

During an eight-hour stopover in Singapore on Oct 7, Ms Wu told CNA that she aimed to “da-ka”, or tick off as many iconic landmarks as she could. 

“For the past few years, because of the pandemic, it wasn't really convenient to travel abroad,” she said. 

Crowds and higher prices during the holiday period have also made overseas travel more attractive, Ms Wu added. 

“Travelling abroad costs about the same as travelling domestically … plus it's not as crowded overseas. So if the holiday is long enough, I’d be willing to travel abroad to experience a different culture and atmosphere,” she said.

The 25-year-old was among millions of Chinese who travelled overseas during the Golden Week from Oct 1 to Oct 8. This year’s break was a day longer than usual because China's National Day coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

China recorded 16.34 million cross-border trips during the holiday. This was an 11.5 per cent increase from last year, said the country’s National Immigration Administration.

For Russell Li, who flew from Shenzhen and visited both Malaysia and Singapore, convenience was a deciding factor.

“Going to just one place felt a bit too long, and since Malaysia and Singapore are close and both visa-free, I decided to plan the trip that way,” he said.

CHINESE TRAVELLERS ABROAD

According to travel platform Trip.com Group, top destinations for Chinese tourists included Japanese cities Osaka and Tokyo, and countries with visa-free arrangements like Singapore. 

Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun described this trend as a combination of the “three longs”: long stay, long haul and long tail.

"The first is long stay, because this year we combined the Mid-Autumn Festival with the Golden Week holiday,” Ms Sun explained.

She added that Chinese travellers opted for long-haul destinations such as Europe, Australia and New Zealand to make the most of the extended break. 

Some chose more niche destinations, a phenomenon called long-tail tourism. 

In Japan, for instance, they explored not just the popular Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, but further flung places like Okinawa, Ms Sun noted.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the travel sector contributes around 10 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product and supports roughly one in every ten jobs.

Chinese tourists are also now the world’s highest spending group, accounting for about US$250 billion in 2024. This helps drive GDP growth and create jobs in the travel industry, Ms Sun said. 

“That's why many countries welcome Chinese travellers,” she added. 

For Ms Wu, her week abroad has already inspired plans for next year. 

“I’ve actually been wondering if I should go to Turkiye to see the hot air balloons,” she said.