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China’s outbound trips peak for Labour Day

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SINGAPORE, 27 April 2023: Travelport, a technology company that powers bookings for travel suppliers worldwide, released on Wednesday trend data highlighting the resurgence of outbound travel from mainland China.

Demand has continued to rise leading up to Chinese u Day (1 May 1), historically one of the most popular times for tourists from mainland China to travel.

Outbound Travel Trends

With quarantine restrictions now lifted, the first quarter of 2023 saw outbound bookings from mainland China increase by 331% compared to last year. However, mainland China is only 21% of its 2019 outbound booking levels. According to OAG, international airline capacity is at 37% of its April 2019 availability.

According to a recent McKinsey survey, pent-up demand for outbound travel from mainland China is massive, with 40% of survey respondents wanting to travel and prioritising international destinations for their next trip.

China outbound 2023: The top five destinations

1 Hong Kong SAR (#4 in 2019)

2 Macau SAR (#9 in 2019)

3 Thailand (#2 in 2019)

4 United States (#5 in 2019)

5 South Korea (#3 in 2019)

One major difference in 2023 travel is that tourists from mainland China take shorter trips, with the percentage of two-day and three to four-day trips increasing. This may explain why closer destinations, such as Hong Kong and Macau, claim the number one and two spots. Additionally, of all the flight options available from mainland China, the majority (71%) are bound for Asia Pacific.

Chinese Labour Day

Labour Day in China is an annual public holiday on 1 May. In recent years, the holiday has been expanded to include a three-day break, making it one of the most popular times of the year to travel. The two-week period from 24 April through to 7 May (the week of Labour Day and the week before) tends to be the ideal period for travellers to get away.

Due to pent-up demand, outbound travel from mainland China during this year’s holiday period has reached a three-year high. Travel bookings for these dates have increased by 470% compared to last year alone.

Additionally, unlike the rest of the year, these dates see a noticeable spike in trips longer than 10 days, which may explain why the top destinations for these travel dates are further afield. Long haul locales such as the UK and Canada have all entered the top 10 for these dates only, and the US claims the number two spot.

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