The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) reports that more than 700m vacations were taken by Chinese nationals during last week’s eight-day Golden Week holiday.

 

This represented a rise of more than 12% compared to the ’seven-day’ vacation period in 2016.

 

During the holiday period (October 1 to October 7) Chinese traveller expenditure is also estimated to have risen by more nearly 14% to CY478bn ($74bn) compared with the same period in 2016.

 

10M RAIL PASSENGERS A DAY

An unprecedented 10m-plus rail passengers a day travelled around the China Railway Corporation’s network throughout the week, while airports handled an additional 14,000 domestic flights.

 

The CNTA also estimates there were an additional 6m Chinese overseas travellers during the eight-day vacation period, although it also said that sightseeing was ‘a higher priority than shopping’ for the majority.

 

The CNTA further reports that Chinese visitors from around ’300 cities’ visited more than 1,100 cities in 88 countries or regions during the holiday period and it lists the most popular countries as Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

 

HIGH-SPEED TRAINS

Meanwhile, back in China it was high-speed trains that really made their mark over the eight-day holiday period, making distant tourist resort destinations at home much more accessible in terms of distances for families – along with theme parks, museums and rural tourist destinations.

 

The Chinese authorities also continued their policy of providing free motorway access, as charges were waived during the holiday week. This allowed many holidaymakers the opportunity to use their cars as an alternative to trains and planes – a concession first introduced back in 2012.

 

In addition there was also a near 10% rise to nearly 650,000 Chinese visitors to the Macau Special Administrative Region during the holiday period, according to the CNTA.