China's Golden Week boosts global tourism

China's 13-day Golden Week has transformed a national holiday into a peak season for global tourism.

Travelers from the Chinese mainland made 4.4 million outbound trips during this year's National Day holiday, up 9.3 percent year on year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Since the Mid-Autumn Festival fell on Sept 25-27 and the seven-day National Day holiday began on Oct 1, millions of employees in China chose to take three days off, thereby enjoying a seamless 13-day vacation.

Data from Chinese online travel agency Trip.com showed that one in 10 tourists combined the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays into a single extended break.

Among outbound holidaymakers, trips lasting eight days or more rose from 29 percent in 2024 to around 42 percent this year, according to Trip.com data on vacation products. Europe's share of outbound travel was about 1.5 times its usual level, while travel to New Zealand doubled year-on-year.

Data from multiple online travel platforms showed that South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Australia were among the most popular destinations for Chinese outbound travelers during the holiday, with Japan, which once ranked top, dropping out of the list.

Long-haul destinations such as Australia, the United States, and Italy were among the most-booked places.

In Thailand, where foreign tourist arrivals rose 8.24 percent week on week to 522,532 during Sept 27-Oct 3, China's Golden Week holiday helped boost short-haul arrivals to the Southeast Asian country, Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said on Oct 5.

China was Thailand's largest market for foreign arrivals during the period with 133,946 visitors, up 41.98 percent from the previous week, according to The Nation newspaper, citing updates from Surasak.

In South Korea, spending at major retailers by foreign tourist roughly doubled year-on-year during the Golden Week holiday, said the Maeil Business Newspaper, which attributed the growth largely to Chinese tourists.

Spending by foreign tourist at convenience stores such as GS25, CU, and 7-Eleven rose 78 -88 percent compared with the Oct 1-5 period last year. Sales at fashion retailer Musinsa Standard's offline stores rose 220 percent, with Chinese accounting for 34 percent of the total foreign customers. Department stores such as Lotte saw sales up 130 percent year-on-year, the report said.

Penang, Malaysia, also saw a steady influx of Chinese tourists, as visa-free entry policies and improved flight connectivity encouraged travelers to visit the state, home to UNESCO World Heritage Site George Town, according to Malaysia's English-language newspaper The Star.

"We've seen about a 20 percent increase compared with last year. Many are returning visitors who share their experiences online and inspire first-timers," 51-year-old tour agent Lim Kian Hock was quoted as saying, noting that bookings from China had risen sharply this year.

In Australia, China's Golden Week boosted the visitor economy of its economically largest state, according to Destination NSW, the New South Wales state government's lead tourism agency.

NSW welcomed 4.1 million international visitors in the year ending June 2026, up 5.8 percent year-on-year, with China its largest international source market, said Tourism Research Australia.

It said international visitor expenditure rose 14.5 percent to A$15.1 billion ($10.5 billion), driven by strong growth in visitor numbers and spending from China.