Millions to take to skies as China gears up for long Golden Week

26-09-23

• More than 21 million people are expected to take flights in the space of eight days. 

After a strong summer, China’s travel market is about to get another boost as the Golden Week holiday arrives.

More than 21 million people are expected to take flights in the space of eight days – the equivalent of almost everyone in Australia getting on a plane in a little over a week.

The holiday from Sept 29 to Oct 6 encompasses both the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day break, which does not always happen as the date of the festival depends on the lunar calendar.

The extra day is a bonus after the population was essentially denied the opportunity to travel during the years of Covid-19. 

“More than 21 million passengers will travel by air during the holiday period,” Mr Jin Junhao, a deputy director at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said at a briefing in Beijing on Sept 15.

Just domestically, there will be some 14,000 domestic flights a day, according to the regulator.

Air China economy class tickets from Beijing to Chengdu for this Friday are listed at 1,800 yuan (S$342), compared with 680 yuan for the previous Friday.

Long-haul international flights such as Shanghai-Sydney are also double or more compared with fares later in October. 

Higher fares to some degree reflect the growing popularity of some of China’s more far-flung destinations, made more appealing by the longer holiday, online travel agency Tongcheng said in a report.

The eight-day holiday also allows for longer travel.

A study by data analytics firm ForwardKeys found that 37 per cent of travellers plan to stay in their destinations for six to eight nights, a 3 percentage point increase from 2019, before the pandemic. 

“Air ticketing data also shows that there has been an increase in bookings made by solo travellers and couples, something for tour operators, hoteliers, and retailers to keep in mind this Golden Week,” Ms Nancy Dai, an analyst with ForwardKeys, wrote in the report. “For young travellers, personalised options that meet their needs are becoming even more popular,” 

Outbound travel is also finally picking up, with momentum gathering after the Chinese authorities lifted a ban on group tours in August. Favourable entry policies in countries like Thailand have also helped.

Data from flight tacker Umetrip shows bookings for international routes are approaching one million for the holiday period.

Trip.com said outbound travel bookings on its platform are nearly 20 times higher than the holiday in 2022, when China still had rigid Covid-19 policies such as mandatory quarantine and testing.

Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Britain are among the most popular overseas destinations.

According to data from Flight Master, bookings between Tokyo and China’s two largest cities Shanghai and Beijing are among the top 10 international routes for the holiday period. 

“The CAAC encourages domestic and foreign operators to increase capacity investment in the international air transport market and actively resume international flights,” Mr Jin added.

The boom in demand leading up to the Golden Week holiday lifted China’s air passenger traffic to record highs for two consecutive months in July and August.

That is some long overdue relief for the likes of China’s three leading airlines, which were hit hard by the pandemic’s impact on travel – Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines posted combined losses of about 200 billion yuan from 2020 to midway through 2023.