Domestic tourism sees steady growth during first 9 months

China’s domestic tourism market saw solid gains in trips and spending from January through September, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.

The ministry’s domestic traveler survey recorded more than 5.3 billion domestic trips in the first nine months of 2026, a 6.2 percent year-over-year increase.

Urban residents took more than 4 billion trips, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, while rural residents made 1.27 billion trips, a 5.1 percent rise.

Domestic tourism spending rose 2.2 percent year-over-year to 4.95 trillion yuan ($737 billion) in the period. Urban travelers accounted for 4.14 trillion yuan of the total, a 2.2 percent gain, and rural travelers spent 810 billion yuan, up 2.1 percent.