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Some 589 million Chinese travelers took domestic and international trips during this year’s National Day holiday in China, which fell from October 1 to 7, according to data from Ctrip and Chinese Tourism Academy. That’s a 12% YoY increase in the number of Chinese travelers that traveled around China or abroad compared with last year’s National Day holiday and a 24% increase from the 2014 holiday. The holiday is big business in China and the main period when Chinese domestic and foreign trips take place each year. Disney claims attendance at its new Shanghai resort, which opened in June, has exceeded expectations, despite contrary reports. Both Ctrip and Chinese Tourism Academy found travel brands in China have netted RMB 478.2 billion (USD 80 billion) in revenues so far this year, 13.5% more than last year’s RMB 421.3 billion (USD 62.1 billion). eMarketer, a New York City-based market research company, estimates that although digital travel sales growth will slow slightly in the years to come in China, revenues will continue to climb, jumping from USD 95 billion in 2016 to over USD 120 billion in 2017, a change of nearly 30%. Growth in mobile bookings has been fueling many of these travel bookings as most travel purchases during the National Day holiday were made on mobile devices. “Nearly two-thirds of digital travel bookings on Ctrip’s network were made on a mobile device, with desktops and laptops making up the other third,” said eMarketer’s analysis of the data. |
