China's National Day "Golden Week" holiday ends on Wednesday, 7 October. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday (25–27 September) came just before it, travellers who took three days of leave could turn it into a 13-day break from 25 September to 7 October.

Early official and industry data show strong travel numbers, especially to destinations abroad, but a consumer who remains careful about how much to spend. Here is what the figures say and why they matter for the wider Asia-Pacific region.

A very long holiday

The National Day holiday runs from 1 to 7 October. It followed the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from 25 to 27 September. With three working days in between, the two holidays created a travel window of up to 13 days, according to Global Times and Xinhua reports carried by The Star.

Mainland stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen are closed for the holiday and reopen on Thursday, 8 October.

Travel: big numbers on the move

Forecasts and early data from Chinese authorities point to very heavy travel:

Indicator Figure Source
Cross-border trips (daily average, National Day forecast) about 2.15 million; peaks above 2.4 million on the busiest days of the combined holiday National Immigration Administration, via Xinhua
Air passengers, 25 Sep–7 Oct (forecast) 31.19 million, up 3.6% Civil Aviation Administration, via Global Times
Macao border crossings, 1–7 Oct (forecast) 5.2–5.4 million Macao police, via Xinhua

All three figures are forecasts. Full official figures for the holiday are usually released after it ends.

Travel platforms report that Chinese holidaymakers are going further and staying longer. Trip.com said bookings for hotel stays of seven nights or more rose 123%, and multi-destination trips 84%, with the average overseas trip lasting more than nine days, according to Skift and Reuters reporting carried by The Star.

A survey by Dragon Trail International found that 54% of respondents planned to travel abroad during Golden Week, up from 35% a year earlier. But only 5% of those planning an outbound trip expected to book a luxury hotel, while just over a third expected to pay 500–1,000 yuan (about US$75–149) per room night, according to Skift.

Spending: up, but carefully

At home, early spending data from the Ministry of Commerce show modest growth. In the first three days of the holiday (1–3 October):

  • Sales at 78 key shopping streets and districts monitored by the ministry rose 5.3% from a year earlier, and foot traffic rose 3.4%.
  • Purchases under the government's consumer trade-in subsidy programme reached 19.63 billion yuan (about US$2.9 billion), including 7.45 billion yuan for cars and 6.5 billion yuan for home appliances.

Sources: China Daily, Xinhua.

Those gains follow a weak year for consumption. Retail sales grew just 0.4% in August from a year earlier, according to official data cited by China Daily. During last year's Golden Week, average spending per trip fell to a three-year low of 911.04 yuan, Reuters reported.

"Consumers still have a strong appetite for travel, but they remain cautious about how much they spend," Ailsa Liao, a senior analyst at Forthright Securities, told Reuters before the holiday.

Liao described the result as a "K-shaped" spending pattern: travel volumes can be strong even as spending stays restrained.

Cinemas: early box-office data

Ticket sales passed 800 million yuan by the fifth day of the seven-day holiday, including presales, according to CGTN. Last year's eight-day holiday took about 1.84 billion yuan in total, so a like-for-like comparison will only be possible once final figures are out.

Who benefits in Asia-Pacific

For tourism economies across the region, the main story is where Chinese travellers are going.

  • Southeast Asia. Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul were the most popular outbound destinations, according to Tongcheng Travel, as reported by Global Times. Trip.com reported flight bookings to Phuket up 78% and to Cebu up 111%, according to The Nation.
  • South Korea. Flight bookings to Seoul rose 91%, according to Trip.com data.
  • Japan. Japan dropped out of the top 10 overseas destinations on travel provider Tuniu's list, Kyodo News reported, as cited by Global Times. The paper also cited a Nikkei report that Chinese travel to Japan has cooled amid diplomatic friction.
  • Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Long-haul packages to Spain, Portugal, Greece, New Zealand and Australia, among others, sold out ahead of schedule, Reuters reported, and travel platforms cited by Global Times reported bookings to Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand up more than 40%.

For tourism economies such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, longer stays could mean more spending at local businesses, even if many travellers choose mid-range accommodation.

Policy support

Beijing has stepped up efforts to encourage spending. A month-long "cultural and tourism consumption month" began on 22 September, with more than 20,000 events and 310 million yuan in vouchers and subsidies, according to Xinhua. The government released a fourth batch of trade-in subsidy funds worth 62.5 billion yuan on 30 September, according to China Daily.

"It points to a fundamental shift in the logic of tourism consumption, as travelers focus more on the quality of time and the richness of their experiences," said Bu Xiting, a researcher at the Communication University of China, as quoted by Xinhua.

What to watch

  1. 7 October: the holiday ends, with a peak in return travel.
  2. 8 October: mainland stock markets reopen after the holiday.
  3. After the holiday: the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's official figures for total trips and tourism spending. The key number is spending per trip, which shows whether consumers are spending more or just travelling more.
  4. September economic data later this month, including retail sales.

Key numbers

  • 13 days: the combined Mid-Autumn and National Day holiday window
  • 2.15 million: forecast daily average of cross-border trips during National Day
  • 5.3%: rise in sales at monitored shopping districts, 1–3 October
  • 19.63 billion yuan: trade-in programme sales in the first three days
  • 54%: share of surveyed travellers who planned trips abroad, up from 35%

This article was researched with AI assistance and reviewed by the NDNews editorial team. It is based on official Chinese data, travel-industry figures and media reports as of 6 October 2026. Several figures are forecasts or partial-period data; platform data are not official statistics.