Golden Week travel: key takeaways
- Longer holiday itineraries reflect this year’s calendar, with three days of annual leave allowing a 13-day break
- Strong travel bookings coexist with selective spending: mid-range accommodation remains more popular than luxury hotels among surveyed travellers
- Brands have more opportunities to reach holidaymakers, but must demonstrate value to convert visitor traffic into purchases.
Chinese travellers are stretching their Golden Week itineraries to make the most of time off. That might sound like exactly the thing the tourism industry needs in China with spending still not picking up, but these longer holidays don’t look like they’ll supply the desired spending boom. Pre-holiday bookings show continued attention to value.
Pre-holiday bookings show continued attention to value
This year’s calendar helps explain the appetite. Taking three days of annual leave between Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day creates a 13-day break. That gives holidaymakers more time to head out on trips.
Trip.com reported that bookings for hotel stays of at least seven nights rose 123% against last Golden Week. Multi-destination itineraries also increased 84%, with average outbound trips exceeding nine days.
Yet consumer preference in accommodation shows spending caution. In Dragon Trail’s August survey, mid-range hotels were the most popular choice at 33%, while only 5% of respondents planned luxury stays: travelling for longer does not necessarily mean upgrading every part of the holiday.
The backdrop to this is an economy that’s been perpetually sluggish
The backdrop to this is an economy that’s been perpetually sluggish, and a holiday season that provides a good reason to spend. Authorities are working to encourage purchases. A nationwide cultural and tourism campaign running through October includes more than 20,000 planned events and over RMB310 million (about US $46.24 million) in consumer vouchers and subsidies.
The Dao view: Should Golden Week have been travel deal time?
If you’re a brand looking to snap up some holiday spending bucks, the opportunity lies in understanding which parts of a holiday consumers consider worth paying for. Longer journeys create more occasions for dining, shopping and entertainment, but also more days across which budgets must stretch. Busy destinations offer access to customers. They don’t guarantee generous spending. Whether travellers buy will depend on the value each offer delivers. Holiday promotions, anyone?
