While summer travel orders for domestic and outbound trips have hit a new high, inbound tourism remains robust, with a growing number of overseas visitors spending their summer holidays in China, as revealed in a new industry report.
According to a report released by online travel platform Fliggy on Friday, domestic hotel room sales surged 66 percent year-on-year, and the number of sold tickets for domestic scenic areas rose nearly 30 percent year-on-year.
Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Guangzhou in Guangdong province stood out as top domestic destinations. South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam are popular destinations for outbound travel.
Fliggy's data show that the number of summer inbound flight bookings jumped 197 percent year-on-year. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, and Shenzhen in Guangdong province were the most popular cities among overseas tourists.
Cool-weather destinations continued to be the dominant summer travel trend, with destinations such as Kunming, Yunnan province; Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; Guiyang, Guizhou province; and Qingdao, Shandong province, ranking among top summer-escape spots.
Parents preferred to book in-depth guided museum tours for their children, giving them valuable educational experiences. While they favored well-known museums, such as the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China and the Shaanxi History Museum, they also took an interest in niche cultural heritage sites like the Luoyang Museum of Ancient Tombs and the Tsingtao Beer Museum.
This summer, many aerial and water-based activities saw strong growth. Bookings for popular experiences, including high-altitude swings, ziplining and hot-air ballooning, went up 95 percent year-on-year on Fliggy. Bookings for water activities such as sea fishing and sailing rose more than 30 percent on Fliggy.
Tourists preferred to spend their days indoors visiting museums and went on nighttime tours when the weather cooled. Fliggy's data show that night-tour bookings kept rising this summer, as many attractions at home and abroad have opened extra night sessions.
AI is playing an increasingly prominent role in travel planning. In early August, Fliggy rolled out its new-generation AI travel agent, which can not only answer travel-related queries and create itineraries but also help users handle practical tasks before, during and after trips, such as booking changes and hotel room upgrades.
