Golden Week of tourism: More than 700 million visitors in Beijing, Hainan and Yunnan
China’s National Day (1st October) and Mid-Autumn Festival (4 October) fall next week. More than 60 per cent of Chinese plan a holiday. Beijing is the most sought-after destination with 587,000 flights booked. Tourism revenues are expected to top US$ 88 billion.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than 700 million people will go on vacation during China’s upcoming ‘Super Golden Week’, which combines the National Day (1st October) and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday (4 October), this according to recently released figures from the China Tourism Academy.
More than 60 per cent of mainland Chinese plan to travel during the upcoming week-long holiday, compared with 50 per cent last year. Six out of ten October holiday tourists plan to stay in China.
Tourism revenue during this long holiday is expected to reach 590 billion yuan (US$ 88.86 billion), up 12.2 per cent year-on-year.
The top three mainland destinations are expected to be Beijing and the southern provinces of Yunnan and Hainan.
China’s capital topped the list for the third year in a row, as 587,000 flights to Beijing have been booked as of Sunday. This year, Haikou, capital of Hainan, has experienced the greatest annual increase in bookings – 35 per cent.
By contrast, the growth of international tourism by Chinese residents has plateaued around 5 per cent over the past year.
In 2016, 122 million Chinese travelled abroad, especially to Egypt, Turkey, and Tunisia.
For this October holiday, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are the top overseas destinations.
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