China's entry-exit trips soar during eight-day holiday

BEIJING -- China saw a surge in its inbound and outbound trips during the eight-day holiday that ended Friday, according to the official data released by the National Immigration Administration on Saturday.

On average, nearly 1.48 million entry-exit trips were made per day amid the holiday, representing a 2.9-fold increase compared with the same period in 2022, and the total number of cross-border trips topped 11.8 million, the official data shows.

The eight-day holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival linked with the National Day holiday this year, boasted about 5.87 million inbound trips and nearly 5.95 million outbound ones.

A total of 1.67 million inbound trips were logged on Oct 2, the fourth day of the holiday, ranking first in terms of daily tourist volume during the holiday period.

Trip.com, a Chinese online travel agency, said in a report that the outbound tourism market has witnessed remarkable growth, with bookings skyrocketing nearly 20 times compared to the previous year.

Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and Britain were among the most popular destinations for Chinese travelers, according to the agency.

Border areas are also busy. The Youyi Pass, also known as Friendship Pass, on the China-Vietnam border, became a hit for tourists. About a hundred tourists applied for outbound trips every day in the border city of Pingxiang, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to a local travel agency.

According to Dianping, a widely used Chinese customer review app, users left reviews about their trips in up to 135 countries and regions throughout the holiday period.

The eight-day holiday also ignited domestic enthusiasm for traveling, dining out, and sightseeing, injecting energy into the domestic tourism market.

The country's domestic tourism market generated approximately 753.4 billion yuan ($103.2 billion) in revenue amid the holiday, representing a year-on-year increase of 129.5 percent and a rise of 1.5 percent from that of the National Day holiday in 2019, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Thanks to the Hangzhou Asian Games, orders of service consumption in east China's Zhejiang Province had seen rapid growth, marking an increase of 195 percent from the same period in 2019.

Museums were in the spotlight of the holiday. The Palace Museum, the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum, and the National Museum of China received the most attention among young tourists.