China's Golden Week delivered 826 million domestic trips and 738.38 billion yuan in spending, but per-trip spend slipped to about 894 yuan by our calculation, while outbound crossings by mainland residents jumped 9.3 percent.
Cover image: Tourist crowds on the Great Wall at Badaling, near Beijing (file photo, August 2012) — photo by Pascal3012, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
China's National Day Golden Week generated 826 million domestic trips and 738.38 billion yuan (about US$109.7 billion) in tourism spending over the seven days from 1 to 7 October 2026, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) said on 9 October. Measured on a daily-average basis against the eight-day 2025 holiday, trips rose 6.3 percent and spending 4.3 percent. But spending per trip slipped again, and that split between volume and value is the story the trade must price for.
The ministry's totals work out at about 894 yuan per trip, Travel Market News calculates, down from the 911.04 yuan Reuters calculated for 2025 and called a three-year low. Volumes are up, wallets are cautious. Meanwhile outbound travel by mainland residents grew faster than domestic trips, and visa-free entries kept climbing, giving destinations and suppliers across Asia-Pacific and Europe reason to watch this holiday closely.
What do the Golden Week 2026 numbers show?
The headline figures come from the MCT release carried by Xinhua and China Daily on 9 and 10 October. Domestic trips totalled 826 million and spending 738.38 billion yuan, which Xinhua converted to about US$109.67 billion and China Daily to US$110.2 billion. Because the 2025 break ran eight days (National Day plus Mid-Autumn Festival) against seven this year, the ministry framed growth as daily averages: trips up 6.3 percent, spending up 4.3 percent.
The per-trip arithmetic is ours, not the ministry's, but it matches the pattern analysts flagged before the holiday. Ailsa Liao, senior analyst at Forthright Securities, told Reuters: "Consumers still have a strong appetite for travel, but they remain cautious about how much they spend." She described a K-shaped pattern in which volumes can stay strong while spending per consumer stays under pressure. Sienna Parulis-Cook of Dragon Trail International put it more bluntly: "The market is more cost-sensitive than previously."
How did Golden Week 2026 compare with 2025?
Compare daily averages only, since the holidays ran different lengths. The table below uses the ministry's reported daily-average growth rates and our per-trip calculation.
| Measure | 2025 (8 days) | 2026 (7 days) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily average domestic trips | Baseline | 118 million a day | +6.3% |
| Daily average tourism spending | Baseline | 105.5 billion yuan a day | +4.3% |
| Spending per trip | 911.04 yuan (Reuters calc.) | About 894 yuan (TMN calc.) | About -1.9% |
| Outbound trips by mainland residents | Not disclosed on this basis | 4.444 million for the week (NIA) | +9.3% (NIA, year on year) |
The direction is consistent: more trips, taken more cheaply. For hotels, DMCs and attraction operators, the implication is that the Chinese traveller of 2026 shops harder on price, books longer but leaner itineraries, and responds to subsidies. Local authorities have distributed more than 310 million yuan in consumption subsidies under a nationwide culture and tourism consumption campaign running from late September through October, according to Xinhua.
What drove outbound demand this Golden Week?
Border data from the National Immigration Administration (NIA), released 8 October, shows 15.462 million cross-border trips, a daily average of 2.209 million, up 6.7 percent year on year. The busiest single day was 4 October at 2.397 million crossings. Mainland residents made 4.444 million outbound trips, up 9.3 percent, while 732,000 aircraft, vessels and vehicles were inspected, up 14.7 percent.
Pre-holiday signals pointed the same way. A Dragon Trail International survey found 54 percent of respondents planned overseas trips, up from 35 percent a year earlier. Trip.com reported bookings for hotel stays of seven nights or more up 123 percent, with multi-destination itineraries up 84 percent. Spring Tour, a major Chinese travel agency, said long-haul packages to Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, Northern Europe, Greece, New Zealand, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Australia sold out early. That demand profile, longer stays stitched across several stops, is what the recent Jin Jiang-Trip.com push into Southeast Asia is positioning for. It is also unevenly spread: Japan's record inbound year has come despite a sharp fall in Chinese visitors.
How is inbound tourism to China performing?
Foreigners made 682,000 entries into China during the week, up 5.4 percent, of which 505,000 arrived visa-free, up 9.2 percent, the NIA said. CGTN linked the rise to Beijing's widening visa-free policies. The MCT's separate inbound measure put visits at about 2.98 million, with daily visits up 19 percent against 2024 and 6.5 percent against 2025. The two counts differ because the ministry figure likely includes Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents alongside foreign passport holders.
Context matters: global tourism barely grew in the first half of 2026, as UN Tourism's 0.4 percent figure showed, so China's high-single-digit border growth stands out. But it is growing from a still-recovering base, and the visa-free channel is doing most of the work.
What else marked the 2026 holiday?
Xinhua reported 180 large-scale performances nationwide, 125 concerts and 55 music festivals, underlining how event-led travel now anchors the break. About 40 percent of tourists visited revolutionary sites or joined patriotic activities, a trend Xinhua said takes on added significance in the 90th anniversary year of the end of the Long March. Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said that when people travel they don't just want to see history; they also want to draw deeper inspiration from the revolutionary legacy for their lives today. For destination marketers, a parallel indicator is Thailand's 2026 arrival mix, where China remains the top source market even as total arrivals run slightly below last year.
Frequently asked questions
How many trips did China record during Golden Week 2026?
826 million domestic trips over 1 to 7 October, with 738.38 billion yuan in spending, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. On a daily-average basis that is 6.3 percent more trips and 4.3 percent more spending than the eight-day 2025 holiday.
Is Chinese tourist spending per trip rising or falling?
Falling. By Travel Market News's calculation, the 2026 totals imply about 894 yuan per trip, roughly 1.9 percent below the 911.04 yuan Reuters calculated for 2025. Forthright Securities analyst Ailsa Liao describes a K-shaped pattern: strong volumes with cautious per-person spending.
How fast is Chinese outbound travel growing?
Mainland residents made 4.444 million outbound crossings during the week, up 9.3 percent year on year, outpacing domestic trip growth. A pre-holiday Dragon Trail International survey found 54 percent of respondents planning overseas trips, against 35 percent a year earlier.
How many foreigners visited China during the holiday?
682,000 foreign entries, up 5.4 percent, with 505,000 arriving visa-free, up 9.2 percent. A separate ministry measure, which likely also counts visitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, put inbound visits at about 2.98 million.
Sources
- People's Daily Online (Xinhua) — China sees 826m domestic tourist trips during National Day holiday
- China Daily HK — Golden Week trips and spending rise on daily-average basis
- Guangming Daily (National Immigration Administration release) — border-crossing data for the holiday
- CGTN — Visa-free policies boost China's inbound tourism for National Day
- Hotel Online (Reuters) — China's Golden Week travel surge masks cautious consumer spending
